So today I participated in the "Toms One Day Without Shoes" event and went barefoot for (most) of the day today (I had to wear them in the cafeteria, and I will have to wear them at the recital tonight).
Why?
Because it reminds me that I have so much that makes me comfortable, and others do not. I've never really spent much time thinking about how nice it is to wear shoes. But today as I skipped into paint lines, treaded carefully over gravel, felt my feet go numb in class, and got some odd stares from my peers, I now realize how difficult it is just to get across campus without shoes. Now, I didn't participate to show some kind of misplaced sense of pride or "Iook at me; I'm putting myself through pain to help these kids thousands of miles away from me." The truth is, I didn't help anybody.
Nobody.
I understand that. But maybe I sparked somebody else's thoughts. I definitely sparked my own. There's more to this nonsense than people realize. Never again will I take my shoes for granted, that's for sure. It's an experience, not an experiment, and I didn't intend to put myself above others by taking my shoes off (that's an absurd thought now that I write it, but I did get hit with a bit of flak for it).
It's a broken world, full of shattered glass and dusty rocks. Sometimes we forget that. Of course, sometimes we forget the wonderful coolness of a soft patch of clover too. It goes well to be reminded of these things at times.
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By the way, I wish I was clever enough to coin this title, but alas, I am not. One of my friends came up with it.
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