Take A Walk In My Shoes

Written By:  Andrew Eide

There's a saying "Take a walk in my shoes before you judge me" and what that means is before you condemn others for what they do, or how they act, take a walk in their shows, see and experience what they are dealing with. Let me give you an example.

From the mid-1960's until I left the house when I joined the Navy in February 1972 my father drank heavily. We all just chalked it up to him being an alcoholic.

Many years after I left home and he divorced my mother I visited him and asked him why he drank so much.

Father replied that he has been suffering with a combination of prostate and bone marrow cancer since the mid-1960's and the pain is so intense the only thing in addition to pain medications he was taking was to drink alcoholic beverages to kill the pain.

I asked father why he didn't tell us in the family that he was suffering from cancer and he said he didn't want to burden us with his illness.

I replied that it would have been better for us to know his illness, and his pain, and that he draink to kill the pain, rather than just assume he was a run of the mill alcoholic.

So before you judge others please take the time to find out what is bothering them, what is ailing them, what is stressing them.

Thanks!