In one form or another, many of us are aware of the saying, before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. While we all may make and have made our own versions of these idioms (obviously earlier versions not inclusive), mine is something like, You will never be able to walk in another person’s shoes, but you can do your best to learn, listen, and attempt to understand what those shoes feel like, smell like, look like, and so on; if said shoes even exist.
I offer a self-reflective brain exercise for your day, week, or whenever you may choose. Free form this exercise, use my suggestions as a guide, or use those suggestions as a rough guide.
- Look at the image of the shoes (alt text provided). Briefly note the symbolism of the shoes, for example the symbolism of gloves rather than shoes.
- Now read or listen to, Judge Not by Mart T. Lathrop (1895), inserted below. Some believe this poem to be the origin of the various referenced idioms, but in my research there is likely no single origin – as is true in so many spheres.
- Now reflect on the symbolic interpretations you made above. For example, what would you interpret differently, what might you add additional interpretations to, are there things you see that you had not seen before, etc.
- Share, incorporate, revisit, etc., as you please, but I hope you appreciate the way I have chosen to share my own formulation of these idioms into my DEI space.
Stop! Only thy lip let that dark slander die,
And die there all spoken;
Let that half-uttered thought forever lie
In silence deep, unbroken.
How dar’st thou breathe such bitter, bitter words,
When they will wrong another?
Who bade thine evil eye and wicked heart
Judge thus thy erring brother?
Stop, lest that word another’s fame to blight,
The wayward lip shall blacken.
Sometime thou may’st be as he is now,
By all the world forsaken.
Then dare not crush an upward struggling soul,
That battles now its foeman,
Nor wake within the heart, perchance just calmed,
Again the slumbering demon.
Art thou all pure from error and its stain?
Then pity those less holy.
Has thy weak soul sin’s “clankless” fetters felt?
Then learn to be more lowly.
Hope not to win the erring back to truth
By cold and cruel scorninging;
Pour on the spirit’s deeply troubled pool
Some low, sweet, gentle warning.
Perhaps unto that wayward soul has come
The “peace be still” from heaven,
If thy harsh words awake again the storm,
Hopest thou to be forgiven?
If thou hast sought and found “the better way,”
Then gently lead him thither,
And save the soul that now along life’s road
Hastens so madly – whither?
Judge not! That spirit’s struggles are not known,
Save to “the pitying heaven;”
His boat braved fiercest storms e’er ‘t was at least
From virtue’s moorings driven.
O! had temptation’s storms around thee swept,
Wouldst thou have stood unbending?
Or, like him, weary with protracted strife,
Have fallen while contending?
Shame on thee, that thy lips should lightly tell,
A brother’s frailties ever!
Beware, lest in his heart thy hand shall break
Some strained chord forever.
Till thou hast driven from thine own soul’s depths
The plague spot and staining;
Dare not, as thou dost hope for pardon, speak,
Speak the frailties of the erring.
Alt text: There are 3 steps with various “shoes” displayed. Description from left to right: Row 1 – green gardening gloves, clean winter boots, dirty wading boots, muddy dirt bike boots, worn fire boots, sandals facing backwards in background. Row 2 – grey loafers, toe water shoes, worn work gloves, red velvet heels. Row 3 – heavily worn slip-on sandals, heavily worn public service boots, moderately worn sandals, and dusty black heels.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Ecology 