30 JANUARY 2021 WorldWide Drilling Resource® www.starironworks.com 257 Caroline Street Punxsutawney, PA 15767 800-927-0560 • 814-427-2555 Fax: 814-427-5164 SERVINGTHECONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY Serving the Drilling Industry prosperity. In The Little Glass Slipper, a shoe elevated Cinderella from poverty to royalty. And, Dorothy’s ruby slippers transported her from Oz back home to Kansas. The most powerful fictional shoe scenario I ever read was in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, when Esmeralda is reunited with her mother because of a pair of shoes. Shoes have generated a number of proverbs. Perhaps the most famous being: “Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes.” While we may never actually walk in another’s shoes, if we take a moment to imagine what their life is like, then we'll hopefully come away with some empathy for them and their situation. Buying a new pair of shoes can be exciting because they often represent positive changes we are making in our lives: a new job, a vacation, new clothes, or commitment to get better at an activity such as golf or dancing. As I reviewed my shoe collection, I thought of all the stories they could tell. In the back of my closet hides a whole row of Birkenstocks - five pair! I’m reluctant, anymore, to call a shoe ugly because whenever I do it seems I end up having to wear them. For years I thought Birkenstock sandals were the ugliest shoes I’d ever seen, and I live in sandals, but would never consider wearing those. Then I injured my foot, and my doctor said I needed to wear a high-arched insert in my shoes. The inserts were uncomfortable and moved around too much. We don’t realize how complex the foot is; it is composed of 26 bones, 33 joints, and 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments. If we don’t take care of them, then our choice of shoes becomes limited. A friend, who still calls himself a hippie, suggested I try Birkenstock sandals because of the built-in arch support. They were perfect, and it was all I wore for years until my foot healed. I learned to love them, and even wore them in the winter with socks (I’m probably the only person in Georgia to do so). One day, on my way to give a speech in Oregon, I got off the plane in the Portland airport. As I stepped into the terminal concourse, a woman who had just exited her plane at the gate across from mine took one look at me and rushed over. She exclaimed, “I’ve been away from Oregon for ten years, and the first person I see is you - a true Oregonian male - wearing Birkenstocks and socks!” I didn’t have the heart to tell I was from Atlanta, but the next day I opened my speech with the story and concluded by saying, “It’s nice to know that here in Oregon, I blend in.” At least until later that afternoon when I got yelled at by a gas station attendant for filling my own gas tank. (Until two years ago, Oregonians were not allowed to pump their own gasoline.) What stories will your shoes tell? How did they come into your life, and where have they taken you? Robert Robert is an innovation/change speaker, author, and consultant. He works with companies that want to be more competitive through innovation and with people who want to think more creatively. Contact him via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com Wilson cont’d from page 28.
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