They say that a person’s eyes are a window into their soul; I believe to get a real glimpse at a person’s “sole” and personality, however, we must look at their shoes. There are hundreds of thousands of different types of shoes, varying in everything from colors, shapes, designs and prices. Likewise, there are many different personality types, ranging from the eccentric and youthful, to the dark, cold, and complacent. Society often labels its outcasts by the clothes that the sinner wears, or the music, the devil’s chainsaws pounding away at an inaudible melody, that they listen to. Rarely, however, do we judge by a person’s shoes and make rash, harsh, generalizations about their personality. We don’t realize it, but we put a lot of thinking into picking our shoes. Subconsciously, we understand that our shoes do indeed reflect our personality, as sad as a realization as that is. Writers put themselves into their work, we put ourselves into our shoes; in fact, our personalities can be broken up into three main shoe categories: Converse, Nike, and Brooks.
Mr. Taylor, the cool, audacious. God-like inventor of the Converse All-Star, lived a simple, but productive life. I’m sure that his wife must have thought he was crazy when he came up with the idea to market these “different” types of shoes, but in the end, it paid off. Converse was originally marketed as a basketball shoe, but they have since sprung into a cult favorite among teenagers and others. Currently, converse are predominantly found in high school hallways and in today’s music scene. Since these are a very unique type of shoe, it only makes sense that only people with a unique type of personality would wear them. For example, most converse wearers are typically very music – orientated, are more creative than your average slice of cheesecake, and are usually the clown of their group. Almost every band nowadays, ranging from Blink 182 to American Hi-Fi, has at least one member who proudly flaunts his chucks. In Post Falls High School, I researched twenty kids who were Converse frequently and compared their personalities. Every one of these adolescents had a quirky sense of humor, thirteen were involved in band, and all eight members of the Orange Couch Improv Team wear Converse, ranging in colors from bright orange, to multi-colored, to peace signed, and to traditional black. Colors also can help in determining a personality, since cons come in all different sorts of colors. Traditionally, the Black converse is one that is found generally in people that are music geared. People with bright colored chucks are often the ones with the best sense of humor. As a whole, however, it seems that the people who wear Converse are the same people who seem to stay youthful and energetic, no matter what the adversities facing them are.
“It’s all Greek to me!” This commonplace phrase often describes something that one doesn’t understand, but if one looks, it is truly amazing how many things in our culture derive from the Greeks. Things as basic as the Olympics to marathons, to Hercules to Nike, we are immersed in the Greek way. One part of Greek mythology is now a major part of the American wardrobe – that’s right, our favorite toga bearing speedster, Nike, is the inspiration behind the number one selling shoe brand in America today. Originally developed by Steven Prefontaine, the great American distance runner, Nike shoes can now be found in virtually every home in America. It has been endorsed by some of the greatest athletes of all time, namely Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. It has always been a symbol of excellence and athletics, and this image carries over to people’s personalities. According to myth, Nike was the Greek messenger god, renowned for his blazing speed. In fact, he actually died by running for 2 straight days to deliver a message, a deed I find fascinating since I didn’t know that a god could die. All of this reputation of success translates into a person’s personality type as well. It seems to be a shoe that glorifies the popular jock, namely basketball players. People that wear Nike are often beloved by all, are typically rich, and are usually arrogant.
The main purpose of shoes is to keep one’s feet protected on a daily basis. However, some people take this to a new level by going through their shoes once a month. These people are called runners, and their shoes are Brooks. Although there are many specialty running shoes, Brooks is among the most popular. People who wear Brooks are almost always runners, mostly because no logical person would ever spend $100 on a pair of shoes. The personality of a person who wears Brooks is not unlike that of an asylum patient; you can’t really tell them apart from any other person just by looking at them, but these people range everywhere from the most devoted (purchasing over $1000 worth of shoes in a year) to the casual, everyday man (usually just buying one or two pairs a year). People who wear Brooks share many characteristics with people who wear other types of shoes; they are the group that has it all. Usually, they are intellectual and funny, but also, they can be arrogant and snobby. This group of shoes is unique in the fact that it doesn’t necessarily show a personality trait as it does a way of life; runner’s come in different shapes and sizes, but every single one of them is absolutely nuts.
In conclusion, stereotypes can be found everywhere, ranging from types of clothing to types of music. In reality, if you truly feel the obsessive need to place yourself higher than everybody else, you should compare your shoes, and then probably see a consoler. A person’s views and outlook on life are represented through the sweaty, smelly, woven fabrics that we continue to wear on our feet day in and day out. So, next time someone asks me to take a walk in another person’s shoes, I will tactfully decline, for I fear that my personality may morph into that of a stuck up jock or even worse, William Shatner.
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So...that was entertaining.
I love shoes.
And I [not quite so subconsciously] sometimes judge people on the type of shoes they wear.
It's ironic how something so simple as shoes becomes the representation of the human personality.
♥, Dana
"According to myth, Nike was the Greek messenger god, renowned for his blazing speed. In fact, he actually died by running for 2 straight days to deliver a message..."
Actually, Nike was the goddess of victory (the Romans called her Victoria). Hermes (Mercury in Roman) was the speedy winged messenger. The allusion to the Greek goddess name was not that if you wear Nikes, you'd be fast, but rather if you wore them, you would be a winner.