A Picture of Hope

There is no need to wonder what a man getting a shoe shine is thinking. He is thinking, "I need to look my best. It is so important for me to look good that I am paying another human being to shine my shoes for me. My shoes. The bottom of everything. The exclamation point on the screaming awesomeness of me. Yes, the competition is so stiff where I am about to go that I cannot afford even the tiniest flaw."

A shoe shine is never the first thing a man does. It is the final preparation.

Have you ever seen a man with a wrinkled shirt or a messy haircut on a shoe shine stand?

No.

Because there is nothing more empowering than a shoe shine. It is the moment when a man tells himself once and for all, "I am worth something. I have hope."

Sitting there, feeling the gentle pressure of bristles pushing through leather, watching the other people walking by, he thinks, "I am as good as any of them are. I belong in this world. I deserve a shot. This shoe shine is going to put me over the top. I am going to look my very best, very, very soon."

A man getting a shoe shine thinks, "Once I get this job / promotion / date / client / account / recording contract / nomination, I am going to make a habit of getting my shoes shined all the time. Every week. Every day maybe. Yes, I'll get up an hour earlier every day from now on and buy a paper and a cup of coffee and come here and get my shoes shined. I'll be on a first name basis with the shoe shine guy. I'll get a jump on the day. That's what I'm a-gonna do. And I'll start listening to more jazz, too. And I'll eat right. And start going back to karate!"

Sometimes it works out for him. Sometimes everything goes according to plan. He gets what he wants, and he is catapulted into a world where daily shoe shines actually make sense.

Other times the competition is just too much for him, and nothing, not even a shoe shine, can put him over the top. He is denied.

Does the man for whom a shoe shine was no help ever go back to the shoe shine stand again? Does he look back fondly upon it as a wonderful thing, a silly, hopeful, private pleasure he afforded himself in a moment of bouyent aspiration.

No.

There is no need to wonder what that man is thinking.

He is thinking, "There is nothing stupider than a shoe shine. I have seven less dollars. I am a fool. I can't believe I gave that guy a tip."