Friday 28 August 2015

Other People's Shoes


Two little girls, one can move, one can't

A lake looks quite different depending where you stand
 
 
 


Joan Baez told us loud and clear, 'there but for fortune go you or I'


Growing up in the sixties we had lots of music with a message, think of 'Wonderful Woodstock.' The words to Joan Baez's song 'There but for Fortune' are as appropriate now as they were then. We must always think about what it's like for other people, not to judge and to share a love for our fellow men, whether we are thinking about members of our family, our friends or colleagues or complete strangers.

Once I wrote  a post about a book that I read to my daughter called 'Walk Two Moons' by Sharon Creech.
One of our favourite quotes from the book was an old Red Indian saying
Don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins.'
That's pretty self-explanatory isn't it?

Today I'm going to share with you a poem, written by my great-uncle and although I didn't know him I think that this poem expresses the feelings that have been so engraved on my heart from childhood.

Other People's Shoes


Before our kindred we condemn
And chastise or abuse
We should at some time stand with them
And maybe wear their shoes.

The world may seem a different place
From just across the road,
And we might run a poorer race
Beneath another's load.

To know just where and how it hurts
May change our view perchance
To feel the pinch that so perverts,
The pinch of circumstance.

Hope you like it.

 

1 comment:

  1. How funny! I just came across the phrase 'There but for the grace of god, go I' in 'To kill a mocking bird... so I looked up the origin of the sentence and it dates back to 1600... I suppose 'There but for fortune' is the lay version from the sixties...
    http://www.thisdayinquotes.com/2011/07/there-but-for-grace-of-god-goes-john.html
    And in the same book the farther tells Scout that you have to be able to stand in someone's shoes before you can judge them... tous se tien!

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