Converse, Vans, and TOMS

I remember talking to one of my friends one night. She wanted her mom to hurry up and finish talking to other people so her mom can give her $80 to buy new shoes. I asked her what kind of shoes she wanted to buy, and she already knew what she wanted--Vans. I then listened through her ramble about the different brands of shoes that she had.

I went home and began to think about my own shoes. I've never owned a pair of Vans or Converse or any other "brand name" for that matter. Most of my shoes are from Payless, Wal-Mart, or Target. Usually, I could care less for brands, but for some reason, it got to me this time. After all, her mom worked at a dry cleaners; my parents both work in medicine. Now, I'm not belittling jobs, but considering that my parents are being paid much more, you would think that I would have a nicer pair of shoes than she would.

Something weird came over me the next few weeks as I contemplated my lack of nicer things when suddenly, I remembered the TOMS shoes commercial. For every pair of shoes they sell, TOMS gives a pair away to a needy child. I then thought, Why am I so concerned about never having a certain brand of shoes, when there are children around the world who've never even owned a pair of shoes in their life?

Living in America, we are blessed to be able to get anything we want whenever we want it. We never had to look farther than our refrigerator to find food. We never have to go to a dirty river to get water. And, hey, I don't remember ever going without shoes.

So many teenagers today argue with their parents for a nice car, a nice phone, or a nice MP3 player. Halfway around the world, someone of the same age doesn't even know what an MP3 player is. Don't you think it's about time we wake up and see that all the stuff we accumulate will only be destroyed by moth and rust? Let's stop wanting.

Give.