Eric Schatz

Concrete People and the Ring of Empathy Eric Schatz

Publisher Marketing: A young man sits on a park bench in an obscure city park. With clothes tattered, skin leathery and coarse, and an empty wine bottle cradled in his arms, he has no idea where he is or what has happened. As Rick, an art student with a curious disposition, is handed a silver ring with the promise it will provide him with magical wisdom, he has no idea that once he slips it on his finger and awakens from his frightening dream that he will feel compelled to seek out the answer to the deep question: "Where do the seeds of homelessness come from?" Through the power of the magical ring, Rick has been gifted with empathy. As he journeys through time accompanied only by a fiery red gem that sits on his finger- he soon realizes that he has the ability to live pieces of the very peoples lives that he interviews. From Rocky, a hero soldier who saved a friend s life on the battlefield, to Jerry, whose wife set him on fire, Rick stands side-by-side with each of the less fortunate listening to their poignant stories and eventually gaining an understanding of what led them to their positions in life. In "Concrete People and the Ring of Empathy, " one man takes a remarkable journey through the past lives of the homeless and, in the process, changes his own life forever."