My Pointy Black Shoes

I have a pair of pointy black shoes.

They’re a little different than most other pairs of shoes, so let me describe them to you.

My pointy black shoes are long and slender and made from perfectly imperfect crinkled leather. The soles are faux wood, which make a sharp clickity-clack sound on hard floors.

But the most domineering quality of my pointy black shoes is, obviously, their pointy toes. The length of the shoes goes above and beyond the end of my big toe, not ending until about two or so inches past where other shoes stop and curling irresistibly upward so the pointy end never touches the ground.

When I go to a dance, my pointy black shoes always come with me, guiding my feet through the Charleston, chicken walk and two-step with flair and ease. I love doing those moves to draw attention to my pointy black shoes.

When I found my pointy black shoes, they were not on display at the front of the store, encouraging every teenager to buy them as other shoes do. No, I had to search for my pointy black shoes among the forgotten “for sale” pile, doomed to collect dust for eternity.

Luckily for those pointy black shoes, I came along.

My pointy black shoes have seen many good days of my life. Through several interviews, my brother’s college graduation and my first prom, my pointy black shoes were there.

I like to wear my pointy black shoes everywhere. But some people have a problem with them.

They think they’re too pointy. But I don’t think so.

Everybody else’s shoes are just too blunt.

What makes me love my pointy black shoes so much is that they are me. My personality is in the faded leather creases, my soul in the soles, my character captured in the pointy tips.

For me, life’s too short to wear boring shoes. I like to stand out, defy the norms and define myself in any way I can.

Life’s too short to try to be somebody else. Besides, everybody else’s personalities are taken.

Just be yourself. Find what your pointy black shoes are. And if you see someone who looks or dresses differently than you, don’t criticize them because they aren’t “fashionable”, “cool” or “pretty” by your standards.

Congratulate them for what they are: themselves.