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education, is my life really that different now? I’m going to use the same spending and savings tactics that I used in Charleston. I’m going to continue to eat Rice-A-Roni and buy shirts for $10 and search for cheap entertainment. I’ll seek inexpensive transportation until I can afford a nicer car. And you better believe that a series of corporate executives are going to get the same speech that I gave to Curtis at Fast Company. I won’t stop until one of those guys hires me on to fetch him coffee in exchange for his expertise and the opportunity to climb into the ranks of management. I’ll work my way up that infamous corporate ladder or perhaps go into business for myself, hopefully finding something that I am passionate about along the way.

That’s how it’s supposed to be. A blank canvas and unlimited upside potential. It’s the foundation of the American Dream.

In chapter eight, toward the end of my stay at Crisis Ministries, Leo told me what he thought the three types of people are in our world. My friend Surry offered me his version:

Those who make things happen;

Those who watch things happen;

Those who sit back, scratch their heads, and wonder, “What in the hell just happened?”

There it is. Three choices. Reread that and think about it for a second. One, two, or three. Three choices. That’s it!

Which one are you?

About the Author

ADAM SHEPARD is a 2006 graduate of Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts, where he majored in Business Management and Spanish. Serving as a resident advisor during his upperclassmen years, he began to take particular interest in the social issues of our nation.

Scratch Beginnings is Shepard’s first book. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

Credits

Jacket photo © Steve Brantley

Copyright

SCRATCH BEGINNINGS. Copyright © 2008 by Adam Shepard. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub © Edition SEPTEMBER 2008 ISBN: 9780061981777

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Publisher

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United States

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1 Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and dimed: on (not) getting by in America (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001).

2 Barbara Ehrenreich, Bait and switch: the (futile) pursuit of the American dream (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2005).

3 The Doctor’s book of home remedies: thousands of tips and techniques anyone can use to heal everyday health problems/by the editors of Prevention Magazine Health Books; ed. Debora Tkac (Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1990).

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Contents

Acknowledgments

Disclaimer and Author’s Notes

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen