Walk a mile in someone else's shoes

ALTADENA – Have you ever wondered why there seems to be so much chaos, conflict and confusion in the world?

In truth there are so many mini-worlds in the entire world. People can live and die in a relatively close in proximity and never know each other. In order to get to know people there must first be a desire to do so or, secondly, something that causes your paths to coincide.

Think about how many different shoes you pass by daily. We have our leaders, the clergy, law enforcement, business owners, educational community, the banking community, real estate services, child care facilities; senior citizen care and services, neighborhood associations, the military, healthcare providers, builders, craftsmen, farmers, public roads and highway services, the Chamber of Commerce, public services, communication services, entertainment professionals, and on and on. This doesn’t include some of the negative distinctions such perverts, criminals, or derelicts.

In your community alone there are so many different walks of life on so many levels of the spectrum. You might wonder why there isn’t more unity among people, the causative reason being that we all walk in so many different paths that chances are that we may never walk a mile in each other’s shoes.

Not that long ago I could not figure out why more people couldn’t learn to get along better and live in amity and harmony. One of the reasons may be because of the invisible walls that partition us. I don’t think much of this is intentional, at least not any longer. It’s more in the way we have grown accustomed to living. We are so focused upon our own activities that we pay little attention to the world of others.

Then along the way came a spider. Well, actually, along the way came technology. We are connected in ways like never before. We can literally reach into each other’s space quite easily these days. We may choose to be extremely connected with a huge network of people if we so desire. We are finding out what it’s like walking in another's shoes, perhaps more than we’d like.

It’s not that hard to reach out and touch others these days. However, one of the main factors to consider is personally exposing yourself as you step into the world of others. With smart phones you can point, shoot, and upload into the media. The problem we have so far is learning how to act with this much unbounded freedom. We will need to redefine the rules of this new game.

Because we are able to peek into the lives of so many people it seems as though we know people when we really don’t. We see Obama in the news so much that we think we know him. How about Oprah, Sarah Palin, Kobe Bryant, or your local news personalities? We peek into the lives of these people so often that it appears we know them. In truth you have no idea of what it is like to really walk a mile in their shoes.

Where is all this transparency leading us? For one, I think once we get used to the extra exposure we might possibly become more humane. Perhaps we will become more compassionate with each other as we realize the price of walking in someone else’s shoes.

We just might learn that being rich and famous comes with a price and that being less fortunate financially is not as bad as one might think as long as there is love in the picture.

In truth we don’t know what it is like walking in many of our fellow human being’s shoes but suffice to say that with each walk we'll discover there is a load to carry. It may not be exactly what you imagine.

Might I suggest that before you get so carried away with walking in the shoes of others that you spend an ample or even equal amount of time perfecting your own walk in your own shoes! Before you criticize the lives of others make sure your life is worthy. Learn how to walk a good mile in your own shoes before you try to take on the load of others.