While I thought of the ironical image of the shoes in which Nelson Mandela made his long walk to freedom, which so famously sold at auction, I remembered Oprah Winifred saying: I still have my feet on the ground because I wear better shoes.

My people say that the shoe that fits one person pinches another so there is no recipe for living that fits all cases. Now if the shoe doesn't fit must we change the foot?

Shoes could be one of the many items we take for granted yet culture and history have got innumerable tales and myths about them. You may not have wondered why Messiahs are always represented as wearing sandals.

 If you think about it as a society we seem to use open toed sandals to convey the presence of an open mind. Why?

If we chose to take a look at people's shoes, you would not belief that only a few people have shoes in good condition. They are always torn, seriously yawning and soles worn-out into holes.

 This means walking on a rainy day is a real disaster. There are people with shoes that carry a foul smell with torn stockings. Fate upon them when they have to take their shoes off on a visit. Some bit of seriousness is needed when taking care of our shoes to avoid such embarrassment.

You are warned never to put shoes on the table because it is a sign of bad omen. In mining communities the only time shoes or boots were placed on the table was when the family was informed of the death of a miner.

His boots would be placed on the table to show that he was dead. Seeing someone's shoes on the table could severely frighten someone if they didn't know that the person was alive and well.

Hinduism and other cultural beliefs stress the point that used shoes must not be given away to anyone because the user is likely to be in the same shoes as the giver. It is also considered inauspicious to buy or present footwear to anyone as a gift because the giver will suffer from a strained relationship with the receiver.
 
A dream that involves shoes that are torn and worn out means a set back in life. Can you imagine even seeing a shoe maker in your dream signifies poverty? I used to think that shoe shining is a good job with lots of fun.

 I read in "Across The Bridge" that shoe shining is fun especially if you are doing it for a trendy woman client: while one eye looks at the shoe you are working upon, the other eye is inspecting the client's thighs.

If you dream about losing your shoes it is a bad omen as it foretells that your loved ones shall betray you when you need them most. And simply dreaming about shoes means you are to prepare for a journey. In most cultures using shoes as a gesture to express any form of displeasure like throwing it at someone is regarded as a bad omen and disrespectful. Does it mean that the journalist who threw his shoe at George W. Bush was doing an awful act?

To the newly wed it is said that feeding a cat on an old shoe makes your wedding day a happy one. There is a tradition that dates back to the Anglo-Saxon marriages that when the father of the bride gave the groom a shoe taken from the bride's foot it symbolized that he was turning over his authority and ownership of the girl to her new husband.
Now that your shoes mean much more than just footwear you need to be careful with them.

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