Grace and Understanding
John Hawes
Creative, inquisitive, life long learner, reliable, values and builds long lasting relationships.
Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes
Grammarist says admonition to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes means before judging someone, you must understand his experiences, challenges, thought processes, before making a judgment. The full idiom is: Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. In effect, it is a reminder to practice empathy.
Long credited as a Native American aphorism, replacing the word shoes with moccasins, the saying almost certainly is derived from a Mary T. Lathrap poem published in 1895. The original title of the poem was Judge Softly, later titled Walk a Mile in His Moccasins. There are many variations on the phrase such as walk a mile in his, her, or my shoes. A plea for empathy is phrased to put yourself in my shoes, as well as put yourself in his or her shoes.
Today we see and hear a constant stream of condemnation of people who fall on one side of an issue or another. We have all heard, or maybe I'm the exception, from our parents, Mr. Rodgers, our places of worship to take the time to understand, have mercy and be willing to forgive and love our neighbors. Try it, and if nothing else, I bet you feel less anxious and more at peace.
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