a walk in their shoes

I remembered once, for about a year, I wore a pair of good looking shoes wherever I go. No one ever asked about my shoes, and certainly no one knew about the condition of the shoes. The shoe looks as if it was only worn yesterday for the whole time. And it still looks the same way. But to the one who wore it they know it better. The insides of the sole had collapsed. The support underneath the feet is as rocky as the face of the mountain. The shoes had a dent where my heels were.

It was uncomfortable. It hurts to walk for long. But I wore it everyday to school, to work, to meet people. Stood on the train every morning from my house to the far west, and probably stood on the train to get to work, then sometimes stood on the bus to get from work to go home. It hurts to do what I do. But I did it anyway.

No one knew. No one asked. No one mentioned about why I wore the same pair of shoes for about a year. It wasn't something significant, and it's common for a guy to have the same pair of shoes for a long time. But God had a plan for them. I understood what it mean by "taking a way in another man's shoe". I understood that for a man with a nice set of footwear wouldn't be noticing others who had shoes that had already rotted on the inside. It wouldn't be obvious to them, because they are not going through what the rotten shoes brings.

"The poorest are the most generous". I saw this quote on FB one day. I had no idea who said it, but I remembered them. Beyond the smile, beyond the contentment shown on their faces, there are struggles. Words that were never uttered. Words that never got down that train of thought. Words that existed, but never heard.

Everyone has a story to tell. Some parts of the story are displayed on the outside, some parts hidden beneath their heels. How differently would a man have acted if he knew one more fact? How different would another have acted if he took a walk in another man's shoe?