Building Your Shoe Closet
We walk, talk, work, live our lives and with each decision or thought, our path is chosen. I think most people usually choose to stay close by the path that their neighbors are cruising or the one their parents planned out for them. Given that we are a nation born from people who walked “the path less traveled”, I feel that our culture is really getting away from the spirit, passion, ingenuity and appreciation for the excitement of such a path that made the USofA the envy of the world. When people, when I, allow ourselves to learn and really experience what life is like in the shoes of another person a lot of things happen, I’m talking about walking a mile in those shoes, not just trying them on, experiencing it with all your senses and not just your ears or eyes. Walking a mile is working their job, sitting down to a full meal with them, spending time with their people, serving them, enduring their ailments, lavishing in their blessings.
What Happens To Me?
I jump out of our culture driven self-centeredness and realize or re-realize that the world doesn’t revolve around me or the person whose shoes I’m wearing even though that is the subconscious theme propagated throughout our society. The billboards say “you deserve it”, the commercial asks “aren’t you tired of….”, and all of that explicative media drives home a sense of discontentment and unnatural yearning for things or experiences to put on our “I feel good about myself” resume. Given that I regularly struggle with the “discontentment bug” even at times when blessings overflow, I’m in need of regular perspective readjustment more than others. I’ve found a great way to do this: step into someone else’s shoes for a bit, look through their glasses or wear their work gloves. When doing so on a regular basis, I always find that it’s easier to appreciate life, act less selfish and live with joy. That’s not because I find that I am more well off, smarter, funnier, richer, or have had more experiences than others, it’s simply because I can see that I am a part of something bigger and that all people no matter their location, skin color, gender or whatever have struggles, capabilities, and value just like me……
I get the real opportunity to learn and grow. Most people associate learning with books and classrooms and typically applying that to a job that yields money or a hobby that yields memories. However, the underlying theme of learning is to help us relate to the people around us, the environment in which we live and for many of us including myself, connecting to The God that created us. Walking in someone else’s shoes is like learning and applying at the same time with a guide. Remember Good Will Hunting, his learning was 1-dimensional; he thought he knew everything through books but hadn’t experienced anything for himself and therefore knew nothing of the real human experience he read about. Learning from other people whether it be your father, teacher, the guy you stand in line next to at the San Diego Zoo, or a child in Africa, is very fulfilling and endearing to the life experience. Learning with and from other people is what enriches life and rich is the man with much learning or wisdom.
One of my greatest learning experiences and maybe my greatest trip was one to Chile. The trip was with a group of people who were considering beginning a campus ministry at one of the major universities near Santiago. During this trip, we stayed with local families in homes that would have been considered crowded in America, met with local missionaries who would only fit in as hippies back home and toured parts of the country that may have been considered lackluster, dangerous or disappointing to most tourists. We saw very few things that show up on the Travel Channel but we experienced a variety of wonder as we lived in the culture of people who spoke a different language, lived in a different part of the world and had a much different lifestyle than we knew back home. It was awesome. I learned about family dynamics, the importance of relationship before business and how values are not homogenous to the world. It was a life-changing experience: I checked my shoes at the door and tried on a variety of others while there.
I recommend to all; take advantage of the opportunity to walk in other folks’ shoes in your day to day life and if you get the chance, choose people that are much much different than yourself. Yes, even if it’s a little bit dangerous or uncomfortable. I bet our culture in America would change in a big way if we all returned after spending a year living the life of an average person from the rest of the world….. or even if we spent a year in our neighbor’s shoes ….?
Just be careful, I’ve learned the hard way on multiple occasions that my not so pretty feet don’t always fit into other shoes well, so tread lightly in the beginning when wearing new shoes in order to avoid blisters as you wear people the wrong way or vice versa.
