John Matrix
Habitué da casa
- Mensagens
- 2.367
- Reações
- 13
- Pontos
- 81
Recém-graduado na universidade, Adam Shepard decidiu sair do conforto da casa dos pais e ir morar em um local para desabrigados. Seu objetivo era em um ano ter um apartamento decorado, um carro e US$ 2,500 guardados. Saiu de casa com 25 dólares e uma mochila. O auto-experimento possuia algumas regras:
- Não mencionar aos outros que estava ali porque queria, e não mencionar que possuia diploma.
- Não utilizar contatos externos para conseguir empregos
- Só trabalhar em áreas que não exigiam um diploma universitário.
Conseguiu um emprego fixo numa companhia de mudança em 2 meses, graças às amizades e os contatos feitos no abrigo. Isso depois de já ter trabalhado em pequenos serviços
Em menos de um ano, já tinha o apartamento, o carro e US$ 5,000 de reserva. Segue a entrevista completa com o sujeito (em inglês):
Becoming a mover and living in a homeless shelter – that hadn't been part of your life before. How much did your lifestyle actually change?
Shepard: It changed dramatically. There were simple luxuries that I didn't afford myself. I had to make sacrifices to achieve the goals that I set out. One of those was eating out. I didn't have a cellphone. Especially in this day and age, that was a dramatic change for me.... I was getting by on chicken and Rice-A-Roni dinner and was happy. That's what I learned ... we lived [simply], but still we were happy.
But surely your background – you're privileged; you have an education and a family – made it much easier for you to achieve.]/b]
I didn't use my college education, credit history, or contacts [while in South Carolina]. But in real life, I had these lessons that I had learned. I don't think that played to my advantage. How much of a college education do you need to budget your money to a point that you're not spending frivolously, but you're instead putting your money in the bank?
Do you need a college education?
I don't think so. To be honest with you, I think I was disadvantaged, because my thinking was inside of a box. I have the way that I lived [in North Carolina] – and to enter into this totally new world and acclimate to a different lifestyle, that was the challenge for me.
Still, there was that safety net. Were you ever tempted to tap your past work, education, or family networks?
I was never tempted. I had a credit card in my back pocket in case of an emergency. The rule was if I used the credit card then, "The project's over, I'm going home."
So what did you tell people when they asked what you were doing?
That was the only touchy part of my story. I had this great back story on how I was escaping my druggy mom and going to live with my alcoholic dad. Things just fell apart, and there I was at the homeless shelter. I really embellished this fabricated story and told it to anyone who would listen.
The interesting thing is that nobody really cared.... It wasn't so much as where we were coming from, it was where we were going.
Would your project have changed if you'd had child-care payments or been required to report to a probation officer? Wouldn't that have made it much harder?
The question isn't whether I would have been able to succeed. I think it's the attitude that I take in: "I've got child care. I've got a probation officer. I've got all these bills. Now what am I going to do? Am I going to continue to go out to eat and put rims on my Cadillac? Or am I going to make some things happen in my life...?" One guy, who arrived [at the shelter] on a Tuesday had been hit by a car on [the previous] Friday by a drunk driver. He was in a wheelchair. He was totally out of it. He was at the shelter. And I said, "Dude, your life is completely changed." And he said, "Yeah, you're right, but I'm getting the heck out of here." Then there was this other guy who could walk and everything was good in his life, but he was just kind of bumming around, begging on the street corner. To see the attitudes along the way, that is what my story is about.
You made it out of the shelter, got a job, and opened a bank account. Did you meet other people who had similar experiences?]/b]
Oh, absolutely. We don't need "Scratch Beginnings" to know that millions of Americans are creating a life for themselves from nothing.... Just as millions of Americans are not getting by. There are both ends of the spectrum.
To meet that guy [in the wheelchair] at the shelter, [makes you wonder] 'Can he get out and go to college and become a doctor?' Maybe, maybe not. I think he can set goals..... You can use your talents. That's why, from the beginning, I set very realistic goals: $2,500, a job, car. This isn't a "rags-to-riches million-dollar" story. This is very realistic. I truly believe, based on what I saw at the shelter ...that anyone can do that.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=4298321&page=1
