I was sorting out my closet and noticed the number of shoes I have that I seldom wear. I suppose almost every American / and other women have and over-abundance of shoes.

Shoes have become, like handbags, status symbols; Louboutin; Prada; Jimmy Choo; Blahnik, and on and on. I have none of these high-status shoes, yet, I have a few pair that I paid upwards of 400 dollars for (that’s my limit). These shoes were purchased for special occasions.

I recall as a child growing up on a farm, we had 1 pair of new shoes each per year, and those were purchased for school. The summer was spent barefoot for the most part. (Before you see a poor kids running around barefoot–I must say I remember my childhood fondly growing up in the country. We rode horses, but never barefoot).

I was envious of the “new girl in school,” whose family came to town because the dad had scored a CEO job of one of the only big companies in town. Not only did they have a swimming pool, but the daughter, who was my age, had ballet lessons, pretty dresses, and to top it, black patent-leather shoes. The boys, I remember, liked to look into her shoes to see if they could see reflections of her underwear. (eye-roll).

The day of her ballet recital in which the entire school was invited, I went home and tried to ruin my new school shoes in order to get a different pair (patent leather). It didn’t work, and I went to school with glued-together shoes.

So, because of these sad, sad stories, I came to covet shoes. I never went berserk, but like many women, was attracted to shoes, always looked for the perfect pair, the pretty pair. I’m glad I never got the handbag bug. A hundred grand for a handbag? No way.

Men are not off the hook. I’m told that men are sometimes judged by the shoes they wear and the watches they buy for their collection.

It all seems so superficial, but it just IS a thing. I try to think of more important things like what’s going on in the world, how one bad president could ruin our democracy, my health, my family’s safety. All those things that are more important than shoes.

Nothing like a new pair of shoes that are also comfortable.

Some people in this world have not shoes.