Today was a disappointment with the Barefoot Challenge. At school, my teachers and principal did not let me go barefoot. I was in fact sent to the office, for voicing my opinions. I thought that it was very unfortunate that there were administrative rules that have been put in place to not let students do this kind of stuff without teacher involvement. There was also some health issues with going barefoot, even though I think that this is kind of the point of this challenge, as many millions of people around the world are also facing health risks due to improper footwear.
After the fact though, I am now thinking that I maybe should have let my principal know about this beforehand, I had let my teacher know, but I guess that was not enough.
One good thing came out of today though, the other kids in my class really helped me out in trying to do the right thing. They helped me try persuade our teachers to let us go barefoot for poverty awareness. Unfortunately though, our attempts failed, but I really think I got my classmates thinking about why we were trying to do this.
So I will still be doing the Barefoot Challenge, but I guess I will not be able to go barefoot in my school.
I am not giving up though! This week I am going to try and have a sort of "shoe drive" where I collect shoes from my classmates, and then I will donate them to the Bissel Centre, Boyle Street and the Mustard Seed. (I will be doing this after school hours and outside of school grounds) If you are reading this and you live in Edmonton, if you would like, you could also drop some shoes off at the Legal Resource Centre (where my mom works) at #201 10350 124th Street, in Edmonton.
To learn more about the Bissel Centre and the Mustard Seed, go to: http://www.bissellcentre.org/donations.htm (the Bissel Centre) and http://www.mustard.ab.ca/content.php?ID=65 (the Mustard Seed).
If you live in other cities, or even perhaps other countries around the world, if you would like to be a part of this, please search your community for places to donate footwear.
Thank You.
3 comments:
damn right it was.
I personally find the reaction for the Barefoot Challenge...out of hand. It's just a cause that hundreds of people work towards, and even though it didn't work too well..most people I talked to are yet confused about why wearing shoes isn't a personal choice in school anymore.
Still, the shoe-drive idea is excellent. It's another great way to raise awareness and fundraising.
p.s. the bright side is that both you and Ian earned my permanent respect, i might actually consider treating you two better than usual now.
p.p.s. about the disappointment, I completely empathize with you. I sort of tried to...start a petition against a teacher last year about this time, only my principal and teacher are under the illusion that I'm a complete angel so they didn't go on about it. They just heard me out and that was it...
well, I think that protesting and challenging people's assumptions often leads to disappointment so I am glad that you are still moving ahead with your plan to do something. Perhaps the best lesson we can ever learn is how to be flexible - when one idea doesn't work, don't give up, but go on to the next idea.
And your Mom told me about the e-mail from John K. - very cool! :-)
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