Zany Zips
In the months between 1st and 2nd grade, I moved from Germany to the United States. As the lazy days of summer gradually faded away, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I would be starting a new school year in a new school. This would be my first experience attending school in America. It would also be my first experience with the ritual known as “back to school shopping”.
With my grandparents now a mere 10 miles away rather than 3,000 miles away, I had plenty of exposure to this annual tradition. After one of my BTS shopping trips with my grandmother, I returned home with a pair of sneakers that could only be described as “functional”, like how one might describe orthopedic shoes. The shoes themselves were the color of dirt, which was bad enough, yet on the side of this basic brown nylon sneaker was sewn a dark brown letter Z. The Z was the insignia for the shoe brand, Zips.
Despite being only 7 years old at the time, I was old enough to know there would be a price to pay for wearing those shoes out in public. Wearing them to school would be even worse. As I began 2nd grade early that September, I gave into my guilt and cautiously wore the Zips to school. The first few times, the Zips and I, went unnoticed, which was exactly how I preferred it, as the “new” girl in school.
Then a shift occurred.
It started innocently enough when someone took notice of the Zips. Momentum picked up when they pointed them out to someone else, who, in turn, did the same. This “snowball effect” took me from being unnoticed to being the laughing stock of, what felt like, the entire 2nd grade. Out of sheer social self perservation, I stopped wearing the Zips to school. At the time, I didn’t have a back-up plan or a back-up pair of sneakers. This was just the price I had to pay for wearing the Zips at school.
.
A few weeks later, my Mom questioned me about the Zips and I finally came clean. At the end of my rather lengthy explanation, she looked me in the eye, and without hesitation, told me that the kids at school were making fun of me because they were jealous of my shoes. Despite being only 7 years old at the time, I was old enough to know that no one was jealous of my shoes. I was also old enough to know my Mom was only trying to make me feel better. With that understanding, I decided to start wearing the Zips to school...once again. The timing was perfect, because sandals were becoming problematic as the fall temperatures were starting to dip.
Walking back into school wearing my Zips, felt like an “us against the world” moment. I was surprised how my confidence seemed to grow with each step I took as I walked to class. With this new found confidence came the courage I needed to step away from the crowd and do my own thing.
I learned a valuable lesson that day from those dirt-colored Zips.
Whether it’s the shoes we wear or the paths we take, pressure to follow the crowd can feel like the price we pay for being part of society. Stepping away from the crowd takes courage, the kind of courage that builds confidence, whether you’re 7 or 107.
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