Walking A Mile In Someone Else's Shoes (Summative Essay)

Walking A Mile In Someone Else’s Shoes

            Often times, as a person we can be inconsiderate of another’s opinion or thoughts. We often judge something without knowing much about it, rather it be a book or a person. As a human we will judge something by what we have heard or seen about it; we don’t use our own observation. If you try to walk in someone else’s shoes, often your opinion about them will change, but even the way you feel and view yourself can change.

            In Romeo and Juliet, there are two families that strongly hate each other. There are the Capulet’s and the Montague’s. Through out this entire play, the hatred between both families is shown as a negative effect on many things. Romeo and Juliet, children of these two families, fall in love and completely forget that both families do not get along at all.  They forget the hatred and contrasting qualities that has been created by both families between these two lovers. Both these characters hated each other’s families; they were rivalries. Romeo and Juliet walk a mile in each other’s shoes because they realize they love each other so much, yet how difficult the hatred between both families has made their love.  In Act II, Scene II, Juliet says:

““Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,”

Here Juliet states that there is nothing in a name, Montague is just a name; the person itself is very sweet. She compares Romeo to a rose, and says that it does not matter what we call the rose; the rose will still smell as sweet. At this point Juliet realizes that Montague is just a name, and the family itself is not rude or hateful; both lovers view each other’s families differently.

            In the book “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,” there are also situations where someone is walking in another’s shoes. Mr. and Mrs. Boone separate in the book, which leaves Mr. Boone to take care of their autistic son Christopher. Christopher is not easy to handle because he views things differently, and acts differently in regular situations. For example, most people will start their day without expecting anything; Christopher bases his day on how many red cars go by in the morning, or how many yellow cars go by in the morning. He maps out places he has never been to before, while others will go to an unknown place, finish their job and come back home. Christopher is not easy to handle, and Mr. Boone has quite a hard time handling him. Mrs. Boone walks a mile in Mr. Boone’s shoes when Christopher comes to London to live with her. His father frightens Christopher because he killed a dog, and Christopher does not trust his father anymore. This results in Christopher deciding to go to London to his mother. Mrs. Boone has not talked to Christopher for two years, and while she left it was Mr. Boone taking care of him. Mrs. Boone then realizes how hard it is to take care of Christopher and that how much effort and patience it takes. In the book Mrs. Boone says to Christopher "Christopher, I am just about holding this together. But I am this close to losing it, all right? So just give me some --." Here you can see that Mrs. Boone is having a hard time taking care of Christopher, and that she is trying to hold everything together, but she is very close to falling apart. You can see the frustration and exhaustion in her tone of voice, while dealing with Christopher. Another moment where Mrs. Boone is frustrated is when she is taking Christopher back to Swindon and she says "Jesus, Half an hour, Christopher. I need you to be quiet for half an hour." Here you can see Mrs. Boone is frustrated and tired of Christopher’s questions and just wants a break. While taking care of Christopher, Mrs. Boone realizes how hard it was for Mr. Boone to do this alone for two years.

Through personal experiences one may learn that walking a mile in someone else’s shoes is fairly difficult, and can change your opinion on someone else or yourself. A personal experience that has shown me what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes is when I met a girl who was very rude. Anything you would say to her would fire back at you, regardless of what it was. Later on, after getting to know her and understand her I realized that she went through a lot in her life, which made her that person. This girl had been through a lot in her past and I realized that it has affected the person she is in the present. After realizing that this is the reason she is the person she is, I thought of her different. Every time I look at someone now, I don’t judge him or her, I try to actually get to know him or her. This experience taught me that what we see is not what is actually there, and sometimes what is actually there, we do not see.

When you walk in someone else’s shoes, you learn beyond what you see. When you actually get to know someone, it changes the way you look at him or her, or talk to him or her. You should never make a judgment by what someone has said, or what someone has done. Until you do not talk to the actual person, you cannot assume anything. Walking in someone else’s shoes can change the way you think of another person or even yourself.