A Woman's Right To Shoes

Sometimes I worry that I should be writing about something more intellectually stimulating. That I should be expressing my opinion on the state of Lebanon, or perhaps the current scaremongering taking place in the British media over potential terrorist action. As we are all well aware, a terrorist attack could take place at any time and the possibility is imminent. Just because it has been all over the media this week doesn't make this week any more likely than any other week. Perhaps I should be writing about Aids, or the typhoon in China, or Iraq where people are being blown up daily. Perhaps I should be worrying about debt, about house prices, of global warming and rising oil and fuel prices.

I have made a conscious decision with this blog, however, to not write about those kinds of issues. Not because I'm not interested (I am); not because I don't care (I do). Because I want to write about the things that directly impact on my personal life on a day-to-day basis, be they mundane, self-obsessed or simply just dull. Because I would like my blog, and that is what it is, regardless of who reads it, or who I write it for, to be about my life. And of course those hugely important issues relate to and impact upon my life, of course they do; it would be naive of me to suggest they don't, but not on the level on which I am writing. It is a very shallow level, but I would rather spend my lunchtime writing about shoes than I would research political based arguments. Plus, I think there are enough blogs which address 'current affairs' of all kinds, and people who write of those issues a lot better than I could when my sole blogging time is restricted to my lunch break.

And shoes (and other things akin to shoes) make me happy. I put on a pair of leopard print ballet pumps today with a dreadful headache and it made me smile. I feel more upbeat, I walk taller and I feel better about life. I just don't think writing about wars would have the same effect.

Footnote - this thought was triggered by an article on the BBC news website - the Tale of a girl with 80 pairs of shoes. Now, I don't think the article was especially interesting or well written; it wasn't even the content of the article which interested me particularly. I have no objection if people buy shoes, like shoes, hate shoes or refuse to wear shoes, although clearly I have more affinity with the first two. It was the reader comments that amazed me. People were actually bothering to post a comment berating this poor girl for spending money on shoes, they were enquiring as to whether she had a pension, whether she gave money to charity, how meaningless her life was etc. I thought this was why wars were fought; fought for democracy, for freedom. Not necessarily to buy shoes, but to be able to live our lives the way we choose (as long as that doesn't unfairly impinge on someone else). To spend our money how we choose, to vote for those we think would do the best job, to write about what interests us. And to let others do the same, without judging, without fighting and without hatred.