Every shoe deserves a good home and so does every human. Photo by Jean Thornton.
My love of shoes is generally one of the first things that I always discuss when talking with friends and those I meet, while my career choice to help the homeless is not always an easy topic to discuss with others. Both shoes and helping the homeless are true loves and passions of mine, and I refuse to sacrifice either. They are both topics for articles that I often receive in emails. The connection between these two article topics may appear to be only that they share my inbox, but I have discovered that often the base of either article comes down to soul… or soles.
I recently saw an article about the sudden increase in demand for cobblers who can save the lost soles of shoes and heels for their tired, budget-strapped owners who are pounding the pavement all the harder these days. Across the U.S. many are asking these fading ‘heroes of heels’ to try revive weary shoes for one more chance at life. Shoes that would have once been tossed into the trash by their high fashion and often frivolous owners in the past are now being asked to carry the load a little farther than before. Businesswomen and men seek to stretch their Prada shoes another season or two rather than continuously up-grading to this season’s must-have sharp steps.
At the same time the re-heeled are getting publicity, another form of damaged souls are also in the news. The recession has hit some harder than just their footwear; it has hit their very being in life. Tent Cities, once thought long-forgotten remnants of the Great Depression, and are now sprouting in many communities across our struggling country. Shocking and alarming images of these make-shift villages appear on our television screens to remind those of us still in our comfortable homes that the effects of the recession are worse than cutting back on eating out or shopping. For some, the “effects” are losing their home, their belongings, and their own self worth. While the shocking and sad story may fall under different headlines or feature different parts of our country, the images shared in all of them are the same—these are our other damaged souls.
As a Case Manager at a transitional homeless shelter in Key West, Florida, I am sad to say that while tent cities have found a reappearance in the media, they have been alive and well in our county, but far more hidden from our mainstream views. I have walked through them. I have sat with their occupants and shared coffee and conversation with them. Although I may still go home to my apartment at the end of our talk —my life is anyways changed by what these worn and ragged souls have offered me. They have offered me a chance put aside the judgments that often prevent us from seeing ourselves in others, especially when those others live a life much different and frightening than ours. Can we, who have never slept on the streets or called ourselves homeless, truly understand the suffering of those souls? More challenging yet, can we drop the stereotypes that allow us to separate ‘them’ from ‘us’ and see what could be our reality?
I go back to those damaged shoe soles now getting so much needed TLC in closets around the U.S. and wonder if they are much different than the human souls at the shelters and on the streets. Both types—whether soles or souls—can hardly expect to survive this world without some form of damage. Show me the unscratched shoe sole and you will show me one that has never left its box. Show me a perfect human soul and you will show me a person who has not walked the journey of life. Either one will surely have been worn or tired from the roads or paths it has been asked to walk; either one will have carried a heavy load of life’s adventures and misfortunes. So why should one sole deserve repair over another soul?
I encourage you to take a look in your closet at some of those long lost soles you have all but forgotten and thrown away. Perhaps it is time to think about investing in a second chance for this sole at your local cobbler. And when you have found the ability to believe that every sole deserves a second chance, perhaps that same thought can be applied to the human souls who could use just as much love and care through our soup lines, food pantries, shelters, and in so many other ways. I assure you these souls are also just as worthy of another chance at living before being cast aside.
As I have learned from the many wonderful faces and the stories behind them, it is truly but for the grace of God that this soul goes in soles that take her home.
To help the homeless in your community contact your local soup kitchens, food pantries, and shelters to see what are the areas of most critical need. Write your representatives about continued support for programs that help those recovering from homelessness. To learn more about the work of the Florida Keys Outreach Coalition for Homeless go to www.fkoc.org.
