When climate protesters in Paris were forbidden to gather because of security concerns following the Nov. 13th terrorist attacks, they set up thousands of pairs of shoes to stand in their place. In the face of terror, in the face ecological devastation, we go on by finding a way to understand that we walk in one another’s shoes.
How do you express solidarity in the face of the world’s brokenness?
The “presence” of thousands of shoes – makes a stunning visual reminder of support in the absence of people with signs and slogans. I recall during the cold war there was a demonstration of the number of US and Soviet nuclear warheads on the Drake University campus in Des Moines, Iowa. The warheads were represented by six inch models of missiles – set in a grid about a foot apart arrayed over much of a rolling campus knoll. It had much the appearance of Arlington National Cemetery – a staggering visualization of the capacity for mutual destruction. Another slogan comes to mind as a reminder, “If the shoe fits, wear it!”