Feet. Due to the tropical climate here in the Pacific, shoes loose their allure quickly. Instead, the cool, temperature considerate flip-flops, or “zorries” as they are called here take precedent in foot apparel. As such, outward appearances of feet in everyday situations tell you a lot about someone. If they have been working in the field, feet bear a tan, greenish color due to loose grass and foliage. If walking long distances, feet bear a rough, rugged, exterior. Furthermore, if someone spends his or her time sitting inside, feet also have an un-shielding look to expose where and what they have been.
For me the most reveling of feet are that of the elderly here. In a place where paved roads, the automobile, and forms of transportation took over for feet in the last 40-50 years, and due to size all necessities are within a walking proximity, it is still possible to see the work and toil of a life of walking, on the feet of the old.
Recently, in my 8th grade religion class, I had a brief discussion of “compassion” with my kids. To them, the breakdown of the word meant, “to feel sorry for someone.” I challenged them on to see it deeper and eventually we as a class came to a consensus after a wonderful example. One of my students stated, “See Mister (as they call me for short) it is like that saying, you can’t understand someone until you walk in someone’s shoes. If my grandfather has a bad feet, I can’t be compassionate to him until I feel the pain it is for him to walk.” In a mass of pride and luck (I couldn’t believe I had gotten that stellar of an answer) I left the discussion at that and moved on to the next point.
This last weekend the staff of OLMVTS and PCS took the chance to go out and retreat from the monotony and everyday life in Kolonia Town. Fr. Jim led us in many exercises to grow as Catholic educators individually and collectively. It was the first reading of the retreat that brought me back to the idea of feet and their revealing quality. The first reading, found in the Gospel of John brought up the washing of the feet of the disciples by Jesus.
Jesus as a servant caught up my thoughts. Whether Catholic, Christian, or other, the figure of Jesus as a servant is acceptable. Jesus came not to rule, not to conquer but simply to serve. What further transfixed me was the metaphor of dirty feet. Simply put, no matter who you are, where you are from, your status, your possessions, wealth, or power, in a place where everyone wears sandals your feet inevitably get dirty. We are the same way as humans. No matter our background, no matter our future, our friends or enemies, our work ethic or lack there of we all have dirty souls. Like our feet, some of our flaws are evident, while some flaws lay hidden deep beneath our skin.
Yet, our greatest flaw, and antithesis to service, is when we focus entirely on our own dirty feet, our own individual flaws and continually put the whip to our backs for our humanity. As this process continues, we shy away from washing the feet of others, and instead focus on how dirty they are and pass the same judgment we have on ourselves to others. It is in this regard we loose sight of Christ’s example and succumb to our humaneness.
A big lesson for myself as of late has been to accept the dirty feet of others by first accepting my own. By regarding each other as imperfect, dirty, faulty, sinners we begin the first step in service to one another, we accept one another as we are, and in such an acceptance forgive others and ourselves. It is in this way our soul’s become clean, and we begin to clean the souls of others, as Christ so called.
