A Day Without Shoes

As I was working today, I heard some kid mention someting of an event that a bunch of students participated in at Towson. The event was titled "One Day Without Shoes" and it was designed so that people across the country could get a first-hand experience of what life would be like without shoes. The purpose of the event is for people to gain awareness on what those individuals in many 3rd world countries experience on a daily basis. The majority of people in 3rd world countries do not have enough money for shoes and as a result they are often on their barefeet. While, I do not have a problem with the overall goal of this organization, providing shoes for the poor, this one day event just seems obnoxious and insignificant. In my opinion there seems to be nothing to gain from this so-called "experience." First of all, come tommorow, everyone will be sporting their shoes once again. Secondly, I don't understand how not wearing shoes makes you relate to the troubles of a third world country. These activists are still not overwhelmed with poverty, have hope for a successful life, and have the luxury of knowing they can put their shoes back on tommorow. The people in third-world country have none of these luxuries. Not too mention, today was an absolutely beautiful day, it wasn't raining, or it wasn't excruiatingly hot to the point that the sidewalk would burn your feet. If this event really wanted people to feel sympathetic towards those without shoes,maybe they should host the event in mid August or perhaps host it on a day where it is pouring rain. Also, the majority of these kids still had the comforts of clothing, where as those people in third world countries do not. I'm not trying to shoot down the idea of helping out those in third-world countries but if your gonna help, do something worthwhile. Don't just take off your shoes for a day to in order to feel better about yourself. In no way are you "experiencing" what it is like to lack the money necessary for shoes by walking around Towson's campus shoeless. It's a nice gesture but quite frankly, it's a pointless one. Now, I don't really know how many kids participated in this event, I just heard something about it at work and the kid showed me a silly flyer. He had the same point of a view I did on the matter. I guess your wondering, wouldn't you notice if a bunch of kids were walking around without shoes? Well, no I most definitely did not. But I know I'm not the only who doesn't pay too much attention to a man's shoes. It was my main man, Red from the Shawshank prison who once said, "I mean, really, how often do you look at a man's shoes?"