one of my favorite 'old family pictures' is a picture of my mother-in-law's class from the 1930s. Note the obligatory picture of George Washington, the class flag, the map of the United States and the children reading diligently. Oh, and something that horrified Clara, but really interested me...the children don't have on shoes. It would be unimaginable today to think that American school children don't have shoes...in fact, we have more than we could ever use. But this is a common thing in much of the world. Most children and adults don't own one pair of shoes - let alone the dozens that we have in our closets here in the USA.
That is why today, for most of the day anyway, I will go without shoes - so that I am reminded of my many blessings, so that I think about the children around the world who are without shoes and whenever anyone asks me about my barefeet I will have an opportunity to tell them why.
This actually is a nationwide movement - you can read more about it here; www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/ and if you are so inclined - you may make a donation of money to the One Day Without Shoes folks or perhaps your church or family or organization could have a shoe drive. I know that www.soles4souls.org does a great job distributing donated shoes around the world!
The really cool thing is that we CAN make a difference, it just takes someone willing to take that first step...
peace, hope, love and joy,
Deborah
The aren't wearing shoes.....but they have books! I figure they are showing us their valued things.
ReplyDeletein the 1930s, children often went barefoot in warm weather and saved their shoes for the cold weather months....
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