elephants on the inside

Size 8. A hole in the right one. Faded red color. Worn soles. Elephants on the inside. My TOMs are more than shoes; they are the means by which I travel the world.

The human memory is a fickle, fickle creature. It grasps unrelentingly to those awkward conversations and embarrassing moments but lets the breath-taking scenes lose their edge, their depth, their magic. These red vessels still carry the salt from the North Sea when we wandered through the picturesque fishing towns of Scotland. They hold the dirt and grass stains from Hyde Park and know what beauty sounds like after hearing Mumford and Sons perform live. They have seen the sun rise over the Washington Monument on Easter. They have felt squished grapes as we toured vineyards in California. These memories are real; I have been fortunate enough to see some beautiful places but the reason I say all this so you will think my shoes and I have a quite exotic life.

We don't.

Mostly, I wear my TOMs to class. To walk around downtown D.C. To buy groceries. To walk my neighbors' dogs. To visit my friends. To do the typical, everyday occurrences. But these do not have to be boring tasks. Not always. When I wear my red TOMs, I remember the places they have taken me, the people we have met together and I look forward to all the places I will go and people I will meet. This allows me to treat every day like anything is possible.

TOMs has a One for One motto; for every pair of shoes purchased, a pair will be sent to a child in need. Wearing these shoes, I am reminded how important it is to do things for other people. And I really need to be reminded of this. People always say that you should do what you want in college because it is "your time." But I certainly do not want to live in a campus, let alone a world, where everyone is living for themselves. I promise I am not an over-dramatic person who thinks I have changed the world by buying TOMs. I understand reality. I know that millions and millions of people are hungry, homeless, sad, uneducated, unemployed, and I know that I have not even scratched the surface of our world's problems. But if I can make a small decision like buying shoes in a way that helps one other person, how could I not?

Some might say this is my favorite pair of shoes. Some might say I am simply too obsessed with these shoes and that I should buy a pair that does not have a hole in them. They may be right, but to me, these shoes are a scrapbook. They are a call to action. They are the enablers of adventure.