I love shoes. High heels, bows and exotic colors are better than a drug. However, since leaving the working world, and recovering from a serious car accident, I don’t wear them like I used to.  Once my shoes defined me, and at any time, three or four pair would be in my car after a quick change. I had a pair that coordinated with all my favorite suits and dresses, and my daughters knew the sound of three inch heels across our oak kitchen floor.  What a way to walk!

But those shoes never defined who I was, they just accented my already designed body, sometimes adding sparkle to my soul. The soles of my shoes may have truly walked the walk, while I talked the talk, but it was who I really was, the barefooted free spirit, that carried my soul in those days of ago.  A time when I was well heeled, enjoying and sharing the luxuries of life with my family.  Sadly though, more than once I did come across those who were happier slipping their patent leather stiletto into my back, than actually having my back – guess some things never change.

Image is more than the glass reflection we see in a mirror, our actions are mirrored by what is deep inside the closet of our heart, even if no one asks and we never tell – something I readily identify with now, as I look at my shoes more than I wear them these days, feeling life as I walk against pavement, grass or snow. The path we walk is the destiny of our soul, regardless of closet our shoes sit in, or the shelf we have been put on.

Recently I attended a motivational class designed to make every moment in life matter. The speaker was a wonderful man, obviously well-centered in his life, honest, compassionate, and very driven to bring the essence of communication and professionalism into the workplace.  God love him for his efforts – where is that huge diamond vision LED Screen from the Apple commercial when we need it letting the world hear the message as the giant hammer goes flying?  I found it tragic though, that such human exchanges of compassion, concern, and camaraderie we should do without thought, have now been relegated to a paid classroom experience.  Excuse me while I sigh, waiting for the other shoe to drop, along with my mouth.

Every day in politics and business we hear about the way things are not working, and when there is something good it is elevated almost to a Mother Cabrini status as wonderful, pay it forward and great! Why, just because someone didn’t walk by? Because the loaf in their loafers pointed out, we are all in this life together and acted accordingly? News should be something that changes us, not remind us of the obvious.  But then again, the last time I saw a shoe store I can’t remember either, everything is hidden behind the impersonal cloud of html that delivers our $39.95 discounted soles and lets us kick up our heels, where no one knows what we do and very few remember there is no place like home.  Maybe that is part of it – if we were more accountable for our lives like we once were, I am sure we would live them a little better again as well.

Too many times, we end up with a foot in our mouth after saying or typing the wrong comment to someone, but few take true responsibility for it anymore. It is easier to take a class and learn how to be nice, hide behind emails and texts, only occasionally exercising such actions to the world, and when we do we are usually dressed up, looking our best with polished shoes that have had the soles checked for quality.  Life would be so much nicer if we were just comfortable with ourselves in casual but honest commitment, putting our best face forward, accepting each other and offering all we could to lighten someone’s load, because those souls never need to be checked for quality.