Why Tie Your Shoes?

I was in a fast food establishment recently. While waiting in line to purchase my food order, I observed a toddler clinging to her mother's leg. She was very cute and talkative. She looked up at her mom and asked her to tie her shoestring which had come undone. 

"You can tie your own shoestrings can't you?" asked her mother.

"No mommy. I forgot how to do it!", the daughter replied.

Dutifully, mom bend down on one knee to complete the task. To my surprise, the mom structured her daughter to bend down and she would show her again how to tie the little girl's shoelace.

Very patiently they succeeded in their task. Then surprisingly, the mom quickly untied the shoestrings on both shoes and said, "Now let me see you do it yourself?" The response was an expected whining from the little girl not wanting to do it herself, but mom would not give in. People around us began to shuffle about and showed annoyance with the disturbance.

Mom explained to her daughter how she might trip over her untied shoelaces and get hurt. The mother was not about to give in to the toddler now matter what. Finally, after being told she would not be able to play outside in the play area if she did not tie her shoes, the toddler complied.

Looking around the room of the busy eatery, I noted several teens wearing untied sneakers or basketball shoes. This was not because they didn't know how to tie their shoelaces, of course. They were either unconcerned or followed the trend of others who thought they were making a cool style statement. 

This made me wonder why shoe makers would make any shoes with shoestring holes and shoestrings if they were not used by the purchaser? Further why would anyone spend $170.00 for a pair of Air Jordan's and then leave the shoelaces untied or take them out all together? If I were a parent of a teen and spend $170 or more for any pair of shoes with shoelaces, I would insist on the shoes being ties or I would not purchase them.

Now granted, concern over teens not properly tying up their shoe laces hardly measures up to the task of negotiating the denuclearization for North Korea, but there is a point to be made here. 

Like many, my mother taught me how to properly tie my shoes. My older brother, always watchful for me, taught me how to double tie my shoelaces to ensure they would not come undone while spending my energy playing or running. My father would pinch my ear or kick me in the butt if he caught me with my shoelaces untied. Certainly, my teachers in school would tell me to tie my shoes. If I didn't I would be sent to the gym teacher and bend over for several swats with a swat board.

Now some big city folks or progressives might think this is trivial, but it is about the basic building blocks of right and wrong, and learning respect for elders or those in authority. Sometimes repeated from many in our daily lives is required before we get it. Once I got it, it stayed with me for life. It may be old school, but it still works. We just have an expanding society with those who have no grounded upbringing in some of the simplest things that make your life work better for you. Something as simple as tying your shoelaces.