Then there are the tired and faded shoes of old age, dragged in slow steep along the road. There is something a little breezy about a woman’s shoes as they step onto the road or path…something provocative in their pointed heels, their laces and buckles. For many women shoes are akin to lovers they passionately want. The shoes of a child always remain a child. All colorful on the inside and out: red, green, blue, yellow, orange, and purple. Playful children’s shoes that hop and skip, sweat and fall. The list is endless: clogs, slippers, galoshes, patent leather shoes, brogues, pumps, stilettoes, peep toe, open toe, crocs, moccasins, pampooties, loafers, kitten heels, espadrilles, winklepickers, creepers… But the shoes of the king, of the jester and the peasant are not one. How well they suit the gender, the class, the profession, the personality and taste of all those who wear them. While trainers are designed for the road, for the pavements of the city. Used in field and garden, building site and sewer. The Wellington boot was the preserve of the working class. Summer shoes are put to sleep in their boxes throughout the winter. Yet most shoes, too, experience nothingness. How swanky to be striding about in a brand new pair. They lay down a challenge to all and sundry. There is something tough in the stance of certain boots. There are some that just can’t seem to get along with feet-they pinch, hurt, and draw blood.
They, who render the beautiful even more so. High heels nourish an ambition to rise in the world. And some that are overly given to decoration. Oh, there are certainly haughty ones among them. Like those women who are taken for granted but never complain. We leave them outside the front door, but they do not grow resentful. There is something tribal about shoes, they display a tribal devotion. For a false-friend and a shadow stay only while the sun shines. Shoes are the armor feet don in the struggle to survive.Įven our shadow is a fair-weather friend, but our shoes remain with us even at night. Yes, we can fare into the street with no watch, earrings, bracelet or hat but never without shoes! In truth, we can’t really do without them. How indispensable they are, these singular witnesses of each of our adventures. They protect those tiny feet from cold, dust, mud and from cuts. The child shares the joy of walking with their shoes on, taking the first step into the street, the first step into that different world in them. Shoes: two prisoners sharing the same fate. It’s like they want to preserve the smell and the heat of those feet. Some of them wait at home for Godot, while others set out in search of him every day. Left alone they too feel the emptiness within them. They are no longer able to feel their owner’s warmth. Then, they just disappear silently-as if they never existed. Sleep and death: journeys undertaken with no shoes. Shoes are the most perfect balance of the animate and the inanimate.ĭeath spells the end of your need for shoes. What shoes were on Virginia Woolf’s feet when she put an end to her life? What did Hrant Dink’s shoes feel, lying there on the ground? They know, they recognize them-they take the curves and bends of their feet. Shoes are bound, are faithful to their owners. Really, scriptures should speak of them the most: of their patience, their loyalty. They are boats carried away in the flood. They are the most trustworthy, the most agreeable of companions. They never quarrel-but instead, walk side by side and stand side by side. When one steps in mud, so does the other.
Their path, their course is forever the same. They are more alike than identical twins. The expression “like sisters and brothers” seems to suit shoes more than children.
Shoes are the twins that chase way our loneliness. We kick them off rocks, drag them through mud. Shoes, the humblest of all objects are kept well away from us in our houses.
They are the unarmed guards of our feet, who keep all harm at bay, who protect and watch over us. Starting from childhood, from the day when we first wander out into the street, shoes are our best friends, friends who never leave us, who spend every waking moment with us.
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