Cooperative Living January 2017 - 34

Kids'Korner | by Anne M. Dellinger, Contributing Columnist
The Joy and
Magic of Shoes
I
f you created a timeline of all the different shoes that slip
on and off your busy feet each day, which of these would
you include?
leather cords. Stuffed with grass, perhaps for insulation and
support, these " foot-bags " shielded the wearer from his harsh
environment.
Those flimsy forerunners to modern footwear would be
judged inferior and unsafe by today's standards. But to early
man, any kind of bare-bones foot coverings was a much better
idea than going barefooted!
Early morning
School day
After-school
sports, dance class
And now that it's winter, you may also be
lacing and buckling-up special footwear for
cold weather sports ... ice skates
... ski boots ... snowboard
boots.
With so many shoe
choices, you probably have enough
footwear for nearly every event and
moment of your present-day life!
Long gone is the time when kids got a single pair of school
shoes, tennis shoes, Sunday shoes and rubber boots at the
beginning of the school year.
The school shoes had to be durable because they didn't
just walk around the classroom. They were the same shoes
that ran, kicked, jumped, slid and climbed during recess and
again after school. At gym class, these stiff, leather, " everyday
shoes " were swapped for the flexible canvas-on-rubber tennis
shoes (early version of athletic shoes).
Sunday shoes were reserved for dressier occasions like
church events, recitals and school concerts. Whenever it
rained or snowed, the rubber boots were pulled on overtop
the school shoes.
Children of past generations did not have an
overabundance of extracurricular activities requiring specific
shoes; so, there was really no need for a closet full of
specialized footwear.
In today's shoes-aplenty world, having such a small, dull,
shoe wardrobe is almost unimaginable.
But owning just a few pairs of shoes has always been better
than having none at all!
Shoes - Good for the Sole
Thousands of years ago, people traveled everywhere
shoe-less. As they tromped over sharp stones and prickly
plants, there must have been lots of oohs, ahhs and ouches.
Then, one day, someone tied together the fibers of tough
plants and created a pair of crude sole protectors that
resembled present-day sandals. (Sole refers to both the
bottom of a human foot and to the underside of a shoe.)
The next step in shoe development came when man began
wrapping animal hides around each foot, securing them with
32 | Cooperative Living | January 2017
Late evening
Shoes ... symbols of status, valor
and miraculous powers
As time passed, human society became more refined and
so did shoes. People divided into different classes. The rich
and powerful distinguished themselves by their stylish
footwear. In Egypt, dignitaries dressed in decorative sandals,
often with upturned toes to go with their haughty, upturned
noses; the common man wore a plain sandal and the poor and
slaves went barefoot.
While shoes have unfortunately been used as tokens of
power and `rank`, they have also made heroes of daring men.
Ancient Romans devised military-style sandals with thick,
sturdy soles. Then, the well-shod army boldly traveled across
rough terrain and expanded the empire. Fast-forward to the
20th century where astronaut Neil Armstrong bravely took
his famous moon walk in a pair of $30,000 high-tech boots,
which he left on the moon, by the way.
Shoes will continue to make history as long as there are
courageous adventurers. Someday, someone will step onto
Mars. Aerospace engineers are already working on the M2
Trekker, the latest in space footwear. When the time is right,
the boots will be waiting for another hero.
The enchanted shoes of fictional heroines and heroes have
become iconic. Generations of readers and moviegoers know
that a glass slipper, ruby red shoes and a big, roomy boot
overflowing with children are synonymous with Cinderella,
Dorothy and The Old Woman in The Shoe. And a pair of
winged Converse Chuck Taylors, with an H
on the side, brings to mind the Percy
Jackson series of modern-day literature.
Cobbler, cobbler ... mend my shoe
Get it done by half past two
Stitch it up, and stitch it down
And I'll give you half a crown
Some childhood rhymes and stories
remind us that shoes of long ago were
made by hand, one at a time. In The Elves and the
Shoemaker tale, the little sprites created beautiful shoes by
stitching, sewing and hammering pieces of leather together.
And they completed this task during the night while the
cobbler slept.
Just like the elves, cobblers of the past did use a modest kit
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KIDS! CLIP AND KEEP YOUR KIDS' KORNER COLUMNS IN A THREE-RING BINDER AND YOU'LL HAVE A NOTEBOOK CHOCK FULL OF FUN IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES FOR THE FUTURE!

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Cooperative Living January 2017

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