I will admit to having an odd thing about shoes. Not a weird predilection but rather just a real strong like. I am no Imelda Marcos who had, according to reports at the time of her husband's fall from grace in 1986, acquired over one thousand pairs of shoes (yes, 1000+ shoes). In other words, this woman could wear 2.7 different pairs of shoes a day for year without fear of making the fashion faux pas of being seen in the same pair more than once! No, I will never compete with her but did wonder if I should worry.
According to an article on shoes by US Today (which also mentions Imelda Marcos), women keep 14 pairs of shoes in rotation, while owning approximately 24 pairs. Reading this made me feel better as I own fewer than that. Quite honestly, I would probably have more but my budget prevents it. Rather than spending the average $277 a year on shoes for myself, I am spending our shoe budget (which is way less than that) for the other dozen people who are under my care — eleven children and one husband. So, while I might wish I could spend that much, God has prevented me from going overboard with shoes for myself by providing me a large family. As a result, I do get to shoe shop on a regular basis just not always for myself.
In our basement, I keep three to four dozen shoes in a variety of sizes and styles awaiting new owners. I try to recycle shoes within the family as much as possible but every season I will inevitably have a child whose foot is the wrong size for the style needed. I need a size 11 sneaker but only have size 11 dress shoes. My current size 2, for example, has a wider foot than the previous size 2 so, in anticipation of Easter and spring, we were off taking advantage of shoe sales. (Yes, I could buy used and I know many families who do, but I don't. As I said, I'm a bit weird about shoes.) We were able to find some beautiful white shoes that pleased both the wearer (my daughter), the purchaser (me) and the CFO of the family (Dad).
As we were driving home, with Holy Week upon us, I found myself wondering about shoes, in general, and their history and found myself pondering aloud — "What kind of shoes did Mary wear?"
Somehow, I doubt it would be the Jimmy Choo shoes favored by many a celebrity or actress. I see her in a sensible sanda,l perhaps from Clark's or Bass. A solid bottom, sturdy top — practical but still attractive. Shoes for the Blessed Mother were merely to be worn not shown. Now, the Pharisees were a different story all together. They wanted everything about them to be seen, so I imagine their shoes were as over-the-top as their phylacteries. Sadly, for them there was no Zappos.com, but I imagine if there was they would check out the spectacularly interesting styles by Mark Nason which come in around $500. These western style half-boots are meant to be seen!
Judas Iscariot may have also wanted to spend some of the money he was lifting from the money bag for some new footwear but he would have to be discreet. He would probably stick with an off the rack Steve Madden or Kenneth Cole. Nice, but not so nice as it would draw attention to his feet. He would not have liked that attention, as his pilfering ways may have been exposed.
John the Baptist is an easy pick as he would have to have something water-proof. A nice water sandal by Teva perhaps or Columbia, a well-known outdoor supplier. He needed something to provide slip-proof traction in the water and good protection for his toes out in the desert too, so I imagine he didn't go for a flip-flop but a strap-on.
Simon the Zealot might have wanted to make a political statement with his feet and could check out the vegetarian shoes! Yes, vegetarian shoes. Surely, that does not mean that the shoes don't eat meat but rather they are not made of any animal products. Eager to be Roman-free, Simon might have wanted to leather-free.
Did Joseph have to wear steel-toe sandals to conform to safe labor practices as a carpenter? Did Peter wear water-proof sandals like John or, as I imagine, did he just jump in the water each time and shout right out loud every time he cut his foot on a rock or stubbed his toe? He was just too impetuous to take the time to wear something to protect himself. But it is said that the late, great Pope John Paul II appreciated both the comfort and protection shoes offered and had several pair of Doc Marten's; white, of course.
My children have their own spiritual ideas about shoes. A recent discussion about guardian angels included what kind of shoes they might wear. One daughter's angel wears sneakers — pink sneakers with sparkles but sneakers nonetheless — while another daughter is sure her angel wears high heels. It will be interesting to see if these ideas impact on how they grow and what shoes will be their favorites as adults.
My favorites are clogs — easy on, easy off. My husband treats me to a pricier style — Dansko. They are well-liked by medical people and restaurant workers as they are lighter than they appear, sturdy and seemingly last forever. I am fortunate that they have an outlet near my house so I get them for much less than retail. I am partial to them but I would never pay full price!
For no matter how much I like shoes, I am also practical. Shoes are necessary to protect my feet from the elements, the cold and stray pieces of Lego on my floor. Crocs know this as well. Crocs, a relatively new shoe on the market, are all the rage in our area. These brightly colored slip-on clog/sandal/shoe phenomenon are man-made, relatively affordable and comfy. Everyone seems to have a pair. In our family, we make do with less expensive knock-offs. My tie-dyed blue clogs, bought from a discount shoe place, were a life-saver during the last months of my most recent pregnancy — my feet both felt and looked cool.
And so cool are Crocs that they have undertaken a massive project to help shoe the 1.2 billion people who have to survive without. Just think about that. There are over a billion people who try to survive collecting food, getting to and from work or school (if available) without any protection for their only source of transportation. Not a problem, you think, as many of these folks live in temperate or even hot climates where shoes are not needed for warmth. But feet need shelter as much as the body. The number of deaths each year from injury or illness runs into the tens of thousands. From tetanus to infections from a small cut — men, women and so many children die each day from a lack of footwear.
Crocs have developed the SolesUnited program where old Crocs are recycled into new Crocs and given for free to those in need. It is a good thing that many of us send our used shoes to any number of charities for distribution but, as you can imagine, I really like the idea of new shoes. A quick video on Crocs website shows the joy in the faces of people receiving brightly colored new shoes — perhaps their very first pair. I'm thinking of buying new Crocs for the family this summer as small work of philanthropy. We will happily wear them out and then we will happily mail them back. Who knows, we just might save a life with a pair of shoes.
But as I draw my mind back to Easter and those new shoes just purchased, I was struck by a sudden paradox. There I was trying to make sure everyone in our family has shoes for the feast when I remembered that every life on the earth, past, present and future was saved. Saved by a lack of shoes.
While some people spend hundreds of dollars on a single pair of shoes, others have stolen shoes off another's feet and Dorothy's shoes are a fixture in the Smithsonian, the greatest human act ever took place when a man with no shoes on was crucified. My thing for shoes appropriately dims when I ponder that. Some would say that shoes make the man but Jesus' death on the cross proves that to be an empty cliché. Man was saved when God willingly took off His shoes and climbed on a cross.
