Appreciating the Big Toes

I have never been complimented for my big toes. In fact I had a friend once mock them for being “so big”, he called them dinosaur toes.

Big toes generally spend most of their life hidden away from public view and are rarely the object of anyone’s admiration. They never garner our own or other people’s attention like our hair, eyes, and smiles get.

But one day in September 2020, my big toe suddenly became the focal point of my attention when our dining table came crashing down on it.

For weeks I was bruised and walking was much harder. Continuing our home renovation became slower. Suddenly I appreciated just how much my big toe did and how much I needed it.

This small experience has led me to consider how in life we often categorize people as smiles, hair, or eyes and others as big toes.

We place greater value on certain people than others. And of course eyes are more essential for living than a big toe. But to believe life would be better without big toes would be false. Our life is easier and happier when all our body parts are present and working. We need them all, we need the beautiful eyes and the unheralded big toes.

In our lives, our families, our communities, and our country, we need everyone and everyone should be appreciated and respected for the role they play in making things stay functioning and moving forward.

So whether we are a big toe, or we know a big toe, we’re all needed. Let’s do more to ensure that the big toes of this world don’t continue to go unnoticed or wait until they are gone or injured before we come to appreciate them in our lives.

From my home in Almost Heaven, have a great day.

Matthew xo