These Shoes Aren't Made for Walking

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there are many hazards associated with going barefoot in contaminated sand, soil and dirty water, but the most obvious public health problem is hookworm disease. Shoes also help prevent strongyloidiasis, podoconiosis and nonfililal elephanticisis. In many developing countries where stagnant water is a problem, these diseases are almost a condition of life. Parasites breed in such water, with females releasing 3,000 to 200,000 eggs per day depending on their type. Children sometimes swim in parasite-infested waters, and in the absence of suitable drinking water, people may be forced to drink it and use it for cooking purposes. Amongst the poorest of the poor, treatment for parasitic infections becomes a vicious cycle. http://www.yesshoesinc.org/shoes_africa.htm  ...   Women in the USA own an average of 17 pairs of shoes but wear only three pairs regularly, according to a poll of 1,009 women ages 18 and older by ShopSmart magazine, which is published by Consumer Reports. The poll also found that women buy about three pairs a year and, on average, spend $49 a pair. About a third (31%) of those surveyed say they have spent more than $100 on a single pair. “Women fall head over heels for shoes.”  by Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY, March 15, 2011 (web version) In our neighborhood we have a rule that if it’s within two miles you walk it (or bus it) meaning that if it’s within two miles we don’t take our cars. For some of us that’s a choice -- we have a car or access to a car and we have the ability to drive.  But for most of us transportation is only via walking (or perhaps the bus if we have the fare or if the church was able to get monthly bus passes).  It’s one thing to have a rule about this that you can choose to “play along with” or choose to ignore.  It’s quite another to not have the option. One member of our congregation walks to all her 3 jobs.  At least some portion of her day is taken up by walking. She uses the bus to make the long hauls but buses don’t drop you from door to door.  (Many routes leave you walking blocks to get to your destination -- taking the bus also involves walking -- without exception.)  In order to get to one of her jobs “Bonnie” walks about 3 miles because that particular job is three miles beyond the last bus stop.  It takes her about 45 minutes to complete the walking portion of her trip. The bus ride takes about an hour and 15 minutes.  Which means that she is commuting two hours one way to get to this cleaning job where she is paid $50 to clean a house for a private woman.  It only takes her about two and a half hours to clean the house and so the $50 seems like generous pay.  However when you consider the travel time she has she is actually away from home about six and one half hours for that $50.  (That’s about $7.60 an hour -- slightly above minimum wage but not the generous $20 an hour the woman who is paying her thinks she is paying.)  Her friends are encouraging “Bonnie” to let the woman know about her travel.  The woman who hires her to clean her house is a woman of faith who has a sincere commitment to helping the poor. She just may not have an understanding of the day to day workings of the poor.  “Bonnie” is reluctant to share the information. She likes the work and wants to support the woman because the woman does so much good for the community. “Bonnie” is praying about it. It’s not likely that the woman would ever notice the condition of Bonnie’s shoes.  Why would she?  But because we are familiar with the culture and habits of Generational Poverty, Bonnie’s pastor did notice her shoes when the pastor went to do a house blessing at Bonnie’s modest and wonderfully kept apartment. Both of our pastors have cars. They share their cars with the neighborhood whenever they can.  However, most of the time our pastors choose to abide by the two mile rule for walking.  They have a choice.  The pastor had walked to Bonnie’s house because it was close.  And once the pastor saw the condition of Bonnie’s shoes and realized the amount of walking that was done by Bonnie in a day the pastor took off her own shoes (great, expensive black walking shoes) and gave them to Bonnie taking Bonnie’s shoes to walk back to the church.  Once the pastor had walked about two blocks in Bonnie’s shoes it became apparent that it would be better to walk barefoot than to walk any farther in Bonnie’s shoes. And so the pastor took the shoes off and walked back to church in her socks.  Because it was better for her than walking in those shoes. It’s one thing to “walk in another person’s shoes” metaphorically.  It’s quite another to do it literally.  Once you do it literally and then recognize that so many people have no shoes and no choices it becomes obvious that closets built exclusively to hold shoes are indeed sinful. It’s hard being church -- there are some things that we can not do because we follow Jesus and we believe in justice.  Having a hobby that includes building up a stock of something that we rarely need is one of those things that we, as Jesus followers, just can’t do.  Those resources are needed for real Kingdom Work.  If you’d like to fast from buying shoes for a year and send that money instead where it can do some Kingdom work you can visit us at parkerlane.org.