A Day Without Shoes

TOMS, the shoe people, are hosting "A day without shoes". The purpose is to remind people who are blessed with the finances to buy shoes that there are children all over the world who go without shoes every day. What a great concept! I don't know about you, but I need a reminder that having shoes is actually a luxury. In America, we often think of an extra car as a luxury or maybe a new dress or even eating out as a luxury. How many times do we think of shoes as a luxury that we really don't exactly "need"? If we were to be honest, we would all call shoes "a need"and we would fit it into the category of God meeting our needs. We would probably remind ourselves of God clothing the lilies of the field and how he tells us that if He will clothe them, He will surely also clothe us and we put a few pairs of shoes into that category. Don't get me wrong, I know that in order to function in our society, we need a pair of shoes. You can't go into eating establishments without shoes. You can't go to work without shoes and, let's face it, feet are ugly, so we really should have a pair of shoes to cover their nastiness. But, do we need 20 pairs? ...10?... 5?...2? I don't really know where it stops being a need and becomes a luxury.
My own family has lived many of the days of our lives as "a day without shoes". My kids never wore shoes when they were kids unless we were going somewhere. In fact, to this day, if I put my shoes on during the day the kids ask me where I'm going. And they are almost always right. I don't put my shoes on unless I'm heading out the door. Of course, we don't decline wearing shoes because of children without shoes in other countries. We don't wear them because Pecoraro feet were just not made for shoes. Ask Hunter about shoes and you will most definitely get a negative response. He would rather do everything shoeless, but he has to live up to the standards of the day, so he is now forced to wear them. I kind of wish he didn't have to. I wonder how many "well meaning" grown-ups have thought I was a bad mom through the years because of my children's shoelessness. I'm sure I'll never know and actually, now that I'm older, I don't care... but now that a highly respected shoe company suggests having a day without shoes, maybe we will finally be understood....or... maybe not.