The Shoe That Changed My Life Part III

The Shoe That Changed My Life Part III

3/28/12

One may ask just how one shoe can change a person’s life in a monumental way for the rest of his life.  One may also ask in what way this act can become the center of a conceptual belief that should be learned from.  One also may ask why it is important that we pay attention to this event and keep it sacred in our lives and future usage.  A shoe is an article of clothing that we in the western world deem fashionable and an object that makes a statement to others around us, but what does a shoe really provide for us?

I guess that my actions were of a typical western teenager in the fact that for the remainder of the trip I sat around and did not care to do much on the ministry side of things.  The event of the day really stuck in my craw and I did not want to do much other than lick my wounds and feel sorry for myself.  But in other ways the event hit a home run in the reality scene of my life.  At that time I had not known anything about hunger or having the lack of anything in my life, yes I lived a simple life and did not have all of the toys that were on the market, but my parents did provide for me and gave to me the things that I needed.

But also being a typical teenager, I did not appreciate the majority of the items that were given to me and I took everything for granted.  The kid running to me and carrying one shoe struck a dagger into my world and ripped open the eyes of my heart to another world that I had no idea existed.  My world had just been betrayed by some kid that had idea who I was or even why I was present on his island, he could have believed that I was a French tourist off of the cruise ship right across the bay.

How does a person find themselves fighting on two totally opposite fronts concerning matters of this magnitude?  Are we so sheltered from the real dealings of the world that we actually live in a fantasy world of wealth?  As time has ventured along in my life I have learned that these questions are answered by the majority of the world on a continual basis.  The answers to both of those questions lie within our own society, which in some cases even are abruptly challenged when presented to the questioners.

This one time experience continues to haunt me sometimes when I survey the conditions of my country.  I do not even have to look beyond my present town to see the same attitudes I had when I visited Haiti.  I see these ways in the children in the ways that they demand unnecessary items from their parents, I see these ways through the students of our educational systems usurping authoritative decisions when there is no market value in their actions, and I see it in adults demanding products for nothing.  All of these examples, along with thousands more, send a destructive and lying message to those who do not have anything that they are better than everyone else and that they deserve what they have taken from others.

It pains me to see and hear the ways that we are teaching our children to believe about services and other goods.  We have taught them that getting everything that you want is acceptable and when the word no is used that they can pitch a fit or threaten to hold something against you as a means of trumping the word no.  This lifestyle only promotes selfishness and lack of respect towards authority, so the next time you refuse to discipline your child just remember what they will act like when they have that opportunity with their own children.

I learned that there could be many different living circumstances that I could have been placed into when I was born.  I could have been raised to fight for my next meal or to take my meals from someone else if I believed that they did not need it.

As I sit back and think about this portion of the trip I am reminded of another incident that I encountered when I was even younger.  I had taken a trip to Mexico with one of my friend’s family.  We actually stayed in Texas but took a day to travel to one of the border towns.  We were the typical looking tourists walking around with our uppity attitudes towards our surroundings.  We went into shop after shop looking for souvenirs to take back home. 

We were about to walk in one store when a poorly dressed man came in front of us and politely opened the door to allow us access to the inside.  We could tell that it had been some time since he had a bath and we quickly passed him as we entered the store.  The store was a food stop that advertised cold drinks and since it was summertime it was hot enough that we could not pass up the opportunity to cool off for a while.  As we ordered our drinks and then promptly received them we slowly meandered around the shop looking at the items within the store, and I noticed the same man peering through the window at us. 

We had walked around the shop as much as we could without being considered loiters so we decided to leave.  I took a quick glance at the door and noticed that our door man had left, or so I thought.  We continued out of the shop and turned to our left which automatically met with the corner of the street.  We decided that we had had enough of this particular area and began to look for a taxi.  I looked behind us and noticed our door man squatting up to the wall of the building behind us.  He had a great big grin on his face all the while staring at our drinks. 

We had been told that the majority of the cab drivers did not like to have drinks in their cabs since the drinks had the potential of being spilled which in turn caused people to refuse the driver’s services for someone cleaner.  So as we found a cab we all began to quickly finish our drinks.  We knew that there would be no way that we could finish them so we all migrated over to the nearest garbage can.  As we did this our door man jumped up and began to yell something at us.  He was gesturing at our drinks indicating that he wanted what was left. 

We were slightly repulsed at this act but then reluctantly gave him one of the bottles.  He took it gently yet convincingly at the same time.  He looked at us and said thank you in broken English all the while raising the bottle up in the air.  He walked back towards the wall and squatted back down as we entered the cab.  As we began to drive away I saw him raise the bottle to his mouth and began to finish off the contents.

At the time I just found that scene to be gross and really did not comprehend at just what had transpired.  Many tourist places have these types of people in the area which feed themselves, literally, off of tourists and their handouts.  Flashing forward to my shoe adventure in Haiti, the same scenario played out but had different players and traded substances.  Maybe I was too young back in Mexico to realize what was going on but God had other ideas for me in Haiti.

I have never regretted any of my trips to foreign lands in fact I continue to think about them on a regular basis and long to visit them again.  This time I would take my wife and children along so that they could witness other parts of the world as well.  I believe it would serve my children well in seeing first-hand how the majority of the world lives and how other children their age do not have it “made” so to speak.

Today I continue to live like I could be eating my last meal for a while and to keep it simple in my dress and appearance out in public as well.  I like to be relaxed in dress and only have to dress up on certain occasions.  As I have said many times before I am just a boy that God is using to talk with others about restoration and also share some of my life adventures while writing.  I am not fancy or uppity in my ways just down to earth and average in most things.  I like to be around all sorts of people and I hold nothing against anyone since we are all human and face the same challenges each day.

I do know that God loves each one of no matter what our life status says to the world.  God also loves us for who we are and not what we do or what we have achieved in our lives.  God desires to have a relationship with a homeless person just as much as He desires to have a relationship with a multi billionaire.  I do know God wants to provide each person in this world with abundances beyond our wildest dreams.  I do know God is God and that He is in control of all things and He sees even the sparrow when it falls and I am confident that He sees our needs even when we doubt His existence.

DLB