This is the first in our series of articles about the children of the baby boomer generation, beginning with Adam Shepard, author of the new social narrative, Scratch Beginnings, and one very daring youth of twenty-five who felt the strength of his own freedom as he came of age, took responsibility, and broadened the context of his life.  In setting out with little money and taking what was for him a big a step away from the comfort and safety of his hometown, Adam Shepard traveled to a place he barely knew existed, those unfamiliar streets of another America —

I am going to start Ᾱ almost literally from scratch Ᾱ with one 8’ x 10’ tarp, a sleeping bag, an empty gym bag, $25, and the clothes on my back. Via train, I will be dropped at a random place somewhere in the southeastern United States that is not in my home state of North Carolina. I have 365 days to become free of the realities of homelessness and become a “regular” member of society. After one year, for my project to be considered successful, I have to possess an operable automobile, live in a furnished apartment (alone or with a roommate), have $2500 in cash, and, most importantly, I have to be in a position in which I can continue to improve my circumstances by either going to school or starting my own business. Adam Shepard, www.scratchbeginnings.com

In following through with his plan, Adam Shepard has taken a turn on the road that many of us take in our youth.  And, like many of us when we first leave home to find out for ourselves what is out there, whether out on a limb completely or stretching the umbilical cord, for Adam the choice is clear: He has adopted both an attitude and a purpose in life that is at the same time personal as it is beyond the merely personal, a decision to take a calculated risk and find out first hand about other Americans, about how they live, and why. 

In reading about Adam Shepard, I went on to explore his website, his book, and, in a personal interview, this young man’s mind and heart.  I spoke also with his father, George Shepard, someone I perceived to be a thoughtful man who, when asked what he taught Adam growing up and going off to school, said that he always encouraged both of his sons to do well in the classroom--"Have fun, pay attention, and do your best,” he said.  As I tracked Adam down on the web, I learned about his sentiments regarding another more established and older writer--Barbara Ehrenreich, an author whose own social commentary in Nickel and Dimed inspired Adam to say “No, I don’t agree.” Taking his own stand to disagree with this one woman’s particular magnum opus, Adam has embarked on his own quest, initiating yet another American Odyssey christened in the spirit of refusing to give up—on himself, his friends, and his fellow Americans, especially those trapped by circumstance and social injustices.

In Adam’ Shepard’s Own Words:

I am frustrated with the whining and complaining. Frustrated with the materialistic individualism that seems to be shaping every 13-year-old to be the next teen diva. Frustrated with the lethargy and lack of drive. Frustrated at always hearing how it “used to be” when people talk about the good ol’ days in the same breath as their perceived demise of America.
www.scratchbeginnings.com

When I interviewed Adam’s mother, Joanie Shepherd, she recalled a talk Adam gave to a group at Adam’s own high school.  At this event, Adam asked these students what their dreams were, and was both amazed and concerned to discover that many of their dreams revolved around acquiring wealth.  But there were other dreams these students had-- such as the aspirations expressed by one girl who said that she didn’t particularly want to be wealthy, that she wanted something she enjoyed doing that would allow her to “enjoy the journey.”

“My son,” Joanie Shepard says, “has become tired of people idolizing wealth.” As she talked with me about her own guiding principles and those she tried to instill in her two sons, Adam and Eric, I began to reflect on the purpose of Adam’s own journey, especially the recent publication of his new book. The message I keep getting over and over as I process my own responses to Adam’s work is that when you remind people that wealth is not the only dream worth having, when they begin to observe that there are so many more dreams to be realized, then they can begin to assert the freedom they already have, and in so doing increase their chances of making happier choices. 

Like Adam Shepard and his family, some Americans have stepped outside of the financial box and into the world where relationship and experience are just as important as money, and maybe even more so.  “When you change your attitude about money, you can find,” Adam says, “happiness in everyday life.  You can find so many reasons beyond money to be happy.”

And so, in my estimation, Adam Shepard’s Scratch Beginnings reflects an attitude, and ultimately a call for a shift in attitude, no matter how dire the situation, to change and renew our dreams.  When choices involve discomfort, however, we may recoil and choose an easier route, sometimes the worst decision in the long run, but all too often the kind of decision that is least likely to bring us to a place of more contentment, a place where hard work really does matter---as Joanie Shepard says, a place of “exhilaration” after moving through obstacles that once seemed impossible to overcome.

Of course, some critics will insist on calling Shepard’s excursion across cultural boundaries naïve, a flawed perspective coming from someone they believe to be privileged and hence unable to truly understand what’s really happening with those Americans living in seemingly abject and terrifying financial distress.  I ask such critics to reconsider Adam’s message and not address their arguments ad hominem, a classic logical fallacy.  I ask that people in their critical thinking about Scratch Beginnings consider the happy fact that this author’s life force is young and very strong, that with his physical and emotional strength, he will persevere and encourage others as he continues his own journey.

Still, some of us will listen with ears that have heard too much discouraging news in our own lives, so much so that we are tired and have given up.  But the fact of the matter is, nothing in life is over until life itself is over.  For those of us who who daily move in steps both small and large, easy and difficult, and in hope and in despair, Adam Shepard’s is a refreshing and inspiring account that is one giant step headed in the right direction.  From his perspective, our dreams in America are not over.  His refreshingly thoughtful and open and positive attitude as he recounts his experiences in Scratch Beginnings is not meant to remind us of our own limitations— it is instead an invitation to use what we do already have to search for another way, to make new dreams, to rebirth our American dreams.

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