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Tag: #spiritual

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Epiphany #10: Attempted Theft of Joy

Posted on January 12, 2026 by The Stormy Poet

Reading time 6 minutes

With the exception of my published works, I share all my literary art freely. As a literary artist, I see it as my life's purpose to bring healing, empowerment, and justice to the world through the power of literature. When my readers expressed to me that certain pieces I've written enriched their lives in some way, I decided to give my work for free.
Rather than me putting a price tag on what my work means to you, I wanted to give you, The People, the choice. I invite my readers to contribute any dollar amount you think I deserve.
I solemnly swear to put what The People send me back into my platforms to increase the quality of my product and the enrichment of the experience you have viewing my work.
I humbly thank you for whatever you're able to contribute.

In 2005, America played witness to one of the most colossal natural disasters in its recorded history. In addition to cataclysmic, infrastructural damage inflicted by the infamous “Hurricane Katrina”, the psychological impact that ensued proved substantial in its own right.

Our country’s fuming frustration of unresolved social issues would come to a head, due to the poor federal response to the Gulf Coast after Katrina. Steven, a Dallas, TX native, and his mother moved to the Gulf Coast in 2001. After his father lost his battle to alcoholism, his mother decided to start a new path in life back in her hometown of Pass Christian, MS. Though dragged to the small town life quite unwillingly, that ungrateful and whiny teen would soon be faced with to his own new path–a path necessary to reach adulthood and to, overall, find his niche in the world.

But little did they both know, they’d be a part of American History in the most intimate of ways. Using Katrina as a “B.C. to A.D” defining event, “Product of the Storm” uses chronologically ordered diary entries, poems, and essays to narrate a young man’s struggle to find his identity in a stormy world. But, it also serves as a reference point of the views of the country–the views on the issues of addiction, miseducation, war, global warming, political corruption, street violence, religion, racism, and poverty, pre and post Hurricane Katrina.

Be witness to what the storm made them.

“So, I welcome those Mondays. Because, every single one is another day closer to me fulfilling my destiny and to me fully walking the divine path that is in alignment with my very being. Forget longing for weekends and for vacations. The idea should be to create a life you don’t need to take a vacation from, in the first place.”

Go to work. Come home. Go to bed for work. Pay bills. Go back to work. Come home. Go to bed for work. Go to work. Come home. Go to bed for work. Pay bills. Go back to work.

Does this cycle sound familiar? Why do we have the 40-hour work week? Is life just about paying bills? Do we really need a college degree to do what we love for a living? Is working for Corporate America really the only way to avoid homelessness and to become financially independent?

These are questions we’ve all probably asked at some point but, due to the busyness of life, have never had time to thoroughly investigate.

After years of continuous financial stagnancy, working for an employer who didn’t appreciate him, and seeing his family and friends stuck in similar situations, one man decided he could no longer quietly go through life without knowing.

From the author of, “Product of the Storm,” comes the story of James Shields, a 29-year-old office clerk, who gives an intimate and in-depth portrayal of how he and so many others become ensnared in the doldrums of working a non-fulfilling job, living pay-check-to-paycheck, constantly being one big financial disaster away from going under and the documentation of his unorthodox plan and journey to escape the widely accepted imprisonment—the imprisonment that is Working Class America.

Be witness to his great escape!

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