Shoes

There are so many things one can tell by about a person just by looking at his or her shoes. For instance, this weekend I went to a silent auction and dinner at The Ashland House in Morton. Most of the ladies that attended were over the age of 50 and they were sporting bright colorful yet comfortable shoes. Yeah, these ladies have a lot of personality and are very influential people.

However,  I really don't think the men cared too much about the shoes they were going to be wearing to this event as most of them wore their tennis shoes or it was strikingly obvious their significant other had picked them out.

There was one woman who stood out from the rest. She was parading around in an ensemble that was totally age inappropriate. I mean, no woman over 30 should be wearing what looks like a prom dress to a church related event. The dress was strapless, she was not wearing any pantyhose, and the black toe less heels stuck out like a sore thumb. I was thinking to myself, does she really feel that inferior about herself to show up in such an attention grabbing ensemble?

As I stood in amazement at the lady's choice of attire, it hit me. I was judging someone because of  her choice of clothing. I felt like a complete heel! I usually do not sink to that level and I am always telling my daughters to never judge a person unless you have walked a mile in her shoes. Now,  here I am being that person I despise.

 So, I did some long and hard soul searching. I began to reflect on what made me think so harshly about that woman's clothes. My harsh and inexcusable judgement had nothing to do with the woman. Soon I became to realize that the problem was with me.  I was judging her because I was having a bad day. Given, I did not share my careless comments with anyone else but that did not excuse my age inappropriate reaction.

 I guess we are never too old to be caught off guard or to take a brush up course on the things we learned in kindergarten. I did learn my lesson and thankfully no one's feelings were hurt in the process. So, in closing, I would like to remind all of you to learn from my mistake and to never judge a person until you have walked a mile in his or her shoes. Because one day, when you least expect it, someone will wear or do something outrageous. How you react, might make you take another look in the mirror.