Take My Shoes

Posted on June 12, 2010 by Ronald T. Brown, Ph.D.

A True Story

:

It’s winter in Wisconsin.  Ten degrees outside.  Snowbanks line the roads and ice on sidewalks make walking hazardous.  Frank Daily, fourteen years old, has just boarded city bus number ten along with many of his schoolmates, on his way home from school.  The bus driver is John “Kojak” Williams.  The bus heads west on Blue Mound Road.

While his schoolmates chatter in other parts of the bus, Frank sits alone near the front, lost in thought.  He’s having a hard time fitting in at his new school.  He looks down at his new NIKE sneakers and remembers the disappointment he felt when he failed to make the school’s basketball team a few days prior.  He feels lonely and invisible.

The bus stops and a woman slowly climbs the steps, wearing old clothes, no shoes, and only tattered socks.  She settles into a seat behind the bus driver, a few rows in front of Frank.  Many of Frank’s classmates are laughing; the bus driver yells at them to quiet down.

The driver asks, “Where are your shoes, lady?”
“I can’t afford shoes right now,” she answers.  “I got on the bus to get my feet warm.  If you don’t mind, I’ll just ride around for a bit.”
“I’ve got kids,” she says.  “They have shoes, but there’s not enough for me, but that’s okay.  The Lord will take care of me.”

Frank looks down at his new NIKES and thinks about this woman. Under the seat, he unties his shoes and slips them off.  When the bus reaches his stop, he picks up his shoes, walks up to the woman, and hands them to her.  As he steps out the door to head home, he hears what the derisive hoots from some of his callous schoolmates.

Frank Daily’s story might never been told except that Kojak, the bus driver, thought it was remarkable enough to contact the local newspaper and tell it to a reporter.  “In twenty years driving a city bus I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said, adding, “those shoes fit that woman just fine.”

** Character is not what you think or what you intend;

it is what you do

.  Without action, our character is quite useless.

** How does your character need to be proactively displayed… today?