an evening with Mr. 2 Left Feet

With another day of work done, I went to the park to take in a run. I glanced at my footwear while crossing the street. Time to be replaced - the tread is worn and they're getting quite beat. I thought briefly of the places they've been: 6 countries, 3 continents - they've had a good life.

As I approached my destination, I noticed something was different this evening. On the curb where I stretch, he was having a seat- a man I shall name Mr. 2 Left Feet. At once I had noticed his shoes didn't match - one sandal, one sneaker; it was hard not to catch. Not only was his footwear mismated, a left shoe was with the wrong foot acquainted.

While he sat quite peacefully watching others pass by, I could feel my discomfort growing. The pang of guilt for thinking about new shoes and for knowing I could buy them while feet away sat a man who was shod with the scraps of other. I perhaps shortchanged my warm up but I didn't care. I was ready to run, ready to flee, ready to clear my head and feel free. But physical distance cannot separate one from what's already in one's head.

A few cards, when played, will always defeat me. Things that I can ignore, avoid, escape, or detach from, but in the end, never quite become immune to or desensitized towards. Poverty is one of those cards and it's not like I haven't seen it in the extreme. When I did volunteer work in Haiti, life was poverty. Most people I encountered knew no other reality. It's difficult to grasp how something so widespread and extensive can exist. Yet in Taiwan, it's not so widespread. Statistics claim that 1% or less of Taiwan's population lives in poverty. This is a prosperous nation which enjoys a lower cost of living that the States. That combined with the extended family community brings a certain amount of security and stability. In a park surrounded by high-end high-rises and constant growth, building, rebuilding, and refacing, the poverty I see nightly seems so out of place, nonetheless, it exists. Something about the changing weather brings the resurgence of park dwellers this time of year. Empathy is not enough; this year I've got a plan, and for that, I hope we meet again Mr. 2 Left Feet.


"Now I know I have a heart because I can feel it breaking." - Wizard of Oz