Sunday November 9th, 2008 Walk a Mile in Someone Else's Shoes

Have your ever wondered what it would be like to live someone else's life? A number of people have done just that and wrote about their experiences. As a social experiment, this is a valuable way to discover how others are treated and to bring about a change in how we think. As the saying goes, you never really know what it is like until you walk a
mile in my shoes.

The classic title Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin is an exploration of what it feels like to be black in America. Many of us remember this title as part of our classroom curriculum. A journalist, John Griffin, leaves behind his privileged life as a white man in the Southern states to immerse himself into black society in New Orleans. He darkens his skin with the aid of medication and dyes. It is the year 1959, when restrooms and drinking fountains were separate for the races. Just finding a seat on a bus, a restaurant to eat in, or a place to wash his hands proves difficult. The injustice, loneliness, degradation and discrimination experienced by Griffin is astounding. While it has been almost 50 years since this book was written it remains a timeless classic and is well worth reading again.

Is it possible to make a living earning the minimum wage in America? Barbara Ehrenreich is determined to find out. Nickel and Dimed, On Not Getting By In America describes her firsthand experiences as a low income earner. Using $1000 as start up funds she must find an apartment, pay rent, food bills, health care and utilities all while earning approximately $7 an hour. She takes on lower skilled jobs such as a cleaning woman, a nursing home assistant and a position at a Wal-Mart, and proves that lower wage work is just as challenging and trying as any skilled job. Barbara quickly discovers it is extremely difficult to live independently on low wages and in one instance must work two jobs to make ends meet. Seeing that she barely makes it by without children and transportation problems to figure out, one wonders how people with families survive.

Wife Swap. Okay, I know it's a reality television show but it's entertaining and the experience often proves educational. Two women swap homes, children, and husbands for two weeks to see how someone else lives. For the first week the women must live and do as the other wife does. For the second week they can impose their ways and values onto the other family. At the end of the experience each wife starts to see that maybe their way of doing things is not always the right way and that there is room for improvement. What did it take to get there besides lots of drama, fighting and a few tears? Just a couple weeks of walking in someone else's shoes. The details and schedule for Wife Swap can be found at the ABC Web site.

For one year A.J. Jacobs lives his life according to all of the commandments of the Gible. The result is his memoir titled The Year of Living Biblically. As research he not only reads the bible but draws upon the advice of various spiritual leaders. His following of the ten commandments and a literal interpretation of the old testament includes never trimming his beard, wearing white, inviting strangers into his home and writing spiritual wisdoms on doorjambs. Jacobs starts the journey as a non-believer hoping to gain some spiritual insight and find that something which is missing. Can the experience of following biblical laws change his perspective?


The concept of switching bodies completely through some supernatural phenomenon, in this case fortune cookies, is the premise of the popular youth novel Freaky Friday, by Mary Rodgers. A mother and daughter at odds with each other wake up one morning inside each other's bodies. What ensues is a comical and entertaining look at what it means to be someone else for a day. They quickly realize that not everything is as easy as it looks and they walk away from the experience with a greater respect for each other. Also made into a movie, the dvd version is available @ your library.

Michelle Paziuk, Library Technician at the Brodie Resource