Filling Big Shoes

Have you ever seen a small child trying to walk in the shoes of a big person? It is funny to watch. It is also significant: some day those tiny feet will grow up & fill those big shoes – or bigger ones. Do you feel like you are trying to fill some big shoes today, like you need to grow up fast because you have no option? Life unfortunately, often does not wait to see if we are as mature as we would like to be before handing us some of our greatest tests. Most of our training is ‘on the job’. And, like a little one trying to fill big shoes, at first we do it badly, & then awkwardly & never stumble free.

But the only thing which can stop us from growing into those big shoes - is the fear of putting our feet into them. Growth, regretfully for some, comes with the assignment & is very seldom immediate, rather it takes time. Another thing about filling big shoes; it makes us a lot more understanding towards others trying to walk in them too. Today, “How could you do such a thing?” is a question we do not tend to ask, because we already know the answer, & from personal experience…

Ever see a parent holding the hand of a child trying to walk in those shoes which are too big, beaming with pride & delight, simply because they attempted it, steadying them up, encouraging them to keep going, picking them up when they trip & bump themselves?
Likewise, this too is what a good leader does with us…


On a slightly different perspective; I found one of those pieces of paper one leaves lying around for a rainy day this week. It was dated August 12th 2007 & as I type this week’s missive, it is raining… This story, so I understand, was quoted in a Victoria University Conference on Climate Change. Apparently, if you place a frog in a pot of boiling water, he will immediately try to scramble out. I suspect we would too & question why one would do it! Anyway, let’s not go there!

However, if you place the frog in room temperature water, & don’t scare him, he will stay put. Now if the pot sits on a heat source, & if you gradually turn up the temperature, something very interesting happens. As the temperature gradually increases from 70 to 80 degrees F, the frog will do nothing. In fact he will show every sign of enjoying himself. As the temperature gradually increases, the frog will become groggier & groggier, until he is unable to climb out of the pot.

Though there is nothing restraining him, the frog will sit there & boil. Why? Because the frog’s internal apparatus for sensing threats to survival is geared to sudden changes in his environment, not to slow gradual changes…

Incredible aye; perhaps we are like this too….
So, perhaps some of us will go from days of filling big shoes to acceptance of both being boiled in a pot & then never being able to get out!!! Scary!!!