A bit embarassing
Thank-you for your responses to "How many shoes do you own?"
It's an interesting exercise to actually go and count. Just as a point of reference . . . most sources in the U.S. state that the average female owns between 20 and 27 pairs of shoes. The average male? 3. No male in our response said they had only 3 pairs.
Ummm, I have a confession to make--I own 32 pair! When I counted my golf shoes, flip flops and went through all of my closets it became more and more embarassing. I found shoes I didn't even know I had! The crazy thing . . . I received two new pair for Christmas.
Why do most of us have more shoes than we need? In a nutshell: We are consumers. We are programmed to purchase--even things we don't need--especially things we don't need.
What do we do about it? Well, it's up to each of us as individuals. I plan on making a deposit to Good Will Industries. I also plan to stop buying new shoes simply because a marketing complex tells me my old ones (which are perfectly fine) are no longer fine.
What will you do?
It's an interesting exercise to actually go and count. Just as a point of reference . . . most sources in the U.S. state that the average female owns between 20 and 27 pairs of shoes. The average male? 3. No male in our response said they had only 3 pairs.
Ummm, I have a confession to make--I own 32 pair! When I counted my golf shoes, flip flops and went through all of my closets it became more and more embarassing. I found shoes I didn't even know I had! The crazy thing . . . I received two new pair for Christmas.
Why do most of us have more shoes than we need? In a nutshell: We are consumers. We are programmed to purchase--even things we don't need--especially things we don't need.
What do we do about it? Well, it's up to each of us as individuals. I plan on making a deposit to Good Will Industries. I also plan to stop buying new shoes simply because a marketing complex tells me my old ones (which are perfectly fine) are no longer fine.
What will you do?
posted by Greg Nettle at 9:36 AM
3 Comments:
Greg,
We've got shoes everywhere! It's even more evident that it's kinda "sick" when you take a Compassion trip and complete a home visit with a sponsored child.
Our shoes... things... out of control!
I'd like to thank you for the work that you do on behalf of Compassion and the children in poverty. I recently showed a DVD of a presentation that you gave at the GMC to my AK advocates. We were all thinking hard by the end.
Please consider a trip to Alaska. We'd love to have you speak to sponsors and future sponsors about the work that Jesus has for us in the area of caring for the poor and children.
God bless you!
Gate Crasher,
Sheri Beck
Compassion Advocate and AC
Valdez, AK
Hey Sheri,
Thanks so much for your encouraging words. It's my pleasure to serve children at risk in Jesus' name.
Would love to come to Alaska!
Crashing the gates with you . . .
greg
Ok, here's the scoop on my shoes:
My shoes mainly come from the Salvation Army. So, when I buy them, I'm essentially helping the company liquidate personal property. They turn useless items into cash. One man's trash is another man's treasure. With that cash, they buy food and necessities and help pay bills for local families in need, but they also share the Gospel with their clientelle, which is THE chief priority of mine when I'm trying to decide what charitable organizations to support. The Salvation Army also has very little overhead, which is criteria #2 I consider - how much money goes directly to the needy.
I may own a lot of shoes, but let's figure that at $5 a pop, that's how much money the SA made off of me (in shoes alone...virtually all of my family's clothes come from there, too) that they have been able to use to provide for the needy.
Now, here's the piste de resistance: I have so many shoes that I can't possibly wear them all out, so they stay in really nice, clean condition. From time to time, I do clean out my closet and throw out what I don't wear or don't like. When the old shoes are discarded, they go into a bag and the bag is dropped off at...a Salvation Army donation center. So, the SA actually gets to sell the same pair of shoes twice and make the money twice!
(Shopping at the SA for me isn't just about getting cheap, discount clothes...it's actually something that I've thought about...I have a whole philosophy about it)
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