"Life is lived forward, but understood backward. It is not until we are down the road and we stand on the mountain looking back through the valley that we can appreciate the terrain God has allowed us to scale.” Jill Savage

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Saturday Meditations - something to think about . . .

At Granny Mountains Blog she had pictures of some unusual shoes - some were pretty and some were extremely weird. It made me think of this picture I had saved and wondered what kind of shoes this woman wore and why. Look at her feet. They have actually folded!
Why would she do that?



Women chose, as was frequent in a male dominant society, to bind their own feet. It was thought to be fashionable and a mark or distinction to have bound and almost nonfunctional feet. Chinese foot binding was then inflicted on young female children, with mothers performing the binding when girls were as young as five.

One result of Chinese foot binding was extreme pain. The first year of Chinese foot binding would result in breakage of four toes. They would knit back together in a deformed fashion, and young girls would have to walk solely on their heels to avoid walking on the painful toes. Chinese foot binding also inhibited normal growth of the feet so that the bound feet of grown women were extremely small.

It was supposely outlawed in 1911.



What are you thinking now?



Happy Birthday Jane Goodall - wikipedia

Jane Goodall was born in London, UK in 1934. As a child she was given a lifelike chimpanzee toy named Jubilee by her mother. Jubilee started her early love of animals. Today, the toy still sits on her dresser in London. "My mother's friends were horrified by this toy, thinking it would frighten me and give me nightmare" Jane writes in her book, Reason For Hope.

Goodall has been married twice. On 28 March 1964 she married aristocratic wildlife photographer Baron Hugo van Lawick at Chelsea Old Church, London, becoming Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall. The couple had a son, Hugo Eric Louis, affectionately known as 'Grub', who was born in 1967. They divorced amicably in 1974. In 1975 she married Derek Bryceson and they remained married until his death in 1980.

Jane and her younger sister, Judy, both suffer from prosopagnosia, a neurological condition which impairs the recognition of human faces.

Goodall is best known for her study of chimpanzee social and family life.

14 comments:

Susan said...

Always admired Jane Goodall and her work, Sandie. Believe it or not, I gave stuffed animals that were chimps to both kids. My daughter still has hers, and she's going to be 27! I almost flipped when I saw it recently, asked if it was the one I gave her, and she said "yes." He's a grampa by now. ha ha Have a great day. Sincerely, Susan

Melanie said...

That poor woman. I have seen those kinds of pictures before. It makes me cringe.

It is hard to believe some of the shoes women will wear all in the name of fashion. I try to find a good mix of both fashion and comfort. It's horrible to have sore feet!

Dogmom Diva said...

Good morning Sandie..so sad about that woman and the culture that thinks that is OK..NOT OK.

Jane Goodall...there is a name I have not heard for a while..quite a fab woman!

Thanks for sharing girlfriend!
hugs
Barb

Linda @ A La Carte said...

It hurts just to look at those feet. I have little feet and they have taken a beating over the years, heels and not enough arch support and now I have to wear special inserts so I can be on my feet for very long at all. Sigh....never a heel again for this lady! Love Jane Goodall such a wonderful person. Happy Saturday Sandie!

Buttercup said...

My heart aches for those painful feet. One of my mantras is "You can't be happy if your feet hurt or if you have to go to the bathroom." Not especially refined, but true, and I wear sneakers with orthotics about 50% of the time and am much happire for it.

Angela said...

Oh Sandie! That looks so painful! I can't understand the rituals that some of the other countries women endure. The odd thing is her feet look big even though they are folded under. I used to be a size 9 until I had my first baby. Now I wear a 9 1/2.

Hope you have a Wonder Easter Weekend!
Angela

Annesphamily said...

I always admired Jane Goodall, thanks for sharing this with us! I have a friend who I never would have figured for a romp in the wild with giant apes but my girlfriend Sandy once confided to me that she would love to go live in the wild with the big apes! I think they are so incredibly beautiful and talented mammals! The foot binding, OUCH!

Marjorie (Molly) Smith said...

What am I thinking right now? I thinking thank God I was born in this century and Country. I don't think I could have stood that much pain in my feet. That's almost of bad as the African culture that used coils to stretch the neck or the binding of the head to make it long and pointed or putting tubes in ears and lips to make large holes...why can't people except themselves in the perfect condition God made them?
Happy Easter to you and your Sandie.
Molly

betty said...

I'm thinking if I wore those high heels and tried to walk in them, I would fall within 2-3 steps, LOL. It is sad about the binding that the Chinese used to do; the pain countless girls/women had to endure

betty

Tweedles -- that's me said...

Those feet look painful-just painful.

Jane Goodall is an awsome woman.
She is someone who stands out in my head- as a loving hero.
I would have loved to do what she did too- live in the jungle and make friends with the chimpw- but she also went through so much pain and sadness seeing the chimps murdered by mean hearted people.
I have a chimp stuffed animal. His name is zippy. When I was 13 years old- i picked up rocks in our familys yard and earned money to buy him.
xoxoxo

Laura said...

Oh dear-
my feet hurt in tennis shoes so I can't even imagine.

Have a great Easter,

Laura

Anonymous said...

Modern day foot binding looks like it's back in style and women pay big bucks to be in style and suffer. Go figure!

Simply Debbie said...

HAPPY EASTER CHATTY.
A VERY INTERESTING POST ESPECIALLY BINDING THE GIRLS' FEET. I DID NOT KNOW THAT ABOUT JANE GOODALL AND I THOUGHT I HAD SEEN EVERY SHOW ABOUT HER.........HOW CAN YOU BE MARRIED TO A MAN THAT YOU WOULD NEVER RECOGNIZE HIS FACE OR HER CHILD'S. I WILL HAVE TO STUDY THAT DISEASE.
THANKS FOR SHARING.
HUGS
SIMPLY DEBBIE

ocmist said...

I always thought that Jane Goodall was an interesting character, and she did a lot of good work, too!

Several years ago, I, too, had seen that thing about the footbinding. Wasn't that HORRIBLE! When my feet hurt, my whole body hurts! I don't see how in the world one would do that on purpose!!! The horrors that have been brought about by being "fashionable!"