Hard facts.

If you have been keeping up with the latest fashion trends you must be fully aware of the monstrosity that is known as the “mule” shoe. This shoe is even uglier than an actual mule and probably just as uncomfortable.

For those of you who are fortunate enough to live under a rock and have not been exposed to the shoe-equivalent of that one truck-stop in Lone Star, Texas I had the misfortune of sleeping at, let me be the one to break the news to you– they’re everywhere. These atrocities come in many forms: slides, heels, flats, open-toed, leather, suede, snakeskin, leopard print…nothing is safe. We can’t run from them…or…in them.

Besides the fact that the mule looks like you were in a hurry and haphazardly jammed your foot into it, bunching up the material under your heel, this shoe looks like the manufacturer ran out of material at the factory. Every. Single. Time. You know how your parents used to give you grief about buying pants with holes in them? You know, because you’re paying extra for less fabric…well mules are just that…and ugly…and illogical, they are the hubris of humanity.

It would be excusable to wear an ugly thing if its functionality were to outweigh its ugliness, however, mules are not only the peak of putrescence but the height of disfunction. We wear fashionable shoes to accentuate the beauty and curvature of the foot, mules, on the other hand, accentuate the fact that you don’t have time or money for a pedicure. It leaves only the dried crust of your heel to be “admired” by all, hardly inspiring others to leave the rest of your foot up to their imagination.

Speaking of the hubris of humanity. This is not the first time that humans have taken it upon themselves to ruin it for everybody else. In fact, the parents of humanity were the first trend-setters of this fashion, thinking they knew better than the Creator of the Universe. They messed up and they messed up so bad. First, Adam is created, he is given a beautiful creation which God names him the steward of , He creates Eve as an equal partner in dignity and love, and, because of the Selfless Love of the Father, these first humans are bestowed with free will. This free will gives them the ability to choose between the will of the Father (the Father who created them and can fulfill the deepest desires of their hearts) or their own will. Of course, just as the fashion industry chose to go against human nature by creating a shoe that can only be described as a horse hoof, Adam and Eve went against the very nature of their creation by defying their very source of life.

And yet, even though man-kind willingly chose separation from God and therefore chose death, God, because of His everlasting mercy, put into play a plan of salvation to bring the human race into union with Him once more. He humbled Himself, became man, was born in a stable, spent His time with tax-collectors and sinners, rode into Jerusalem on an ass (look how I connected this to the title so so well)–all of this culminating in His crucifixion and death for the salvation of all.

The Canon of the Catholic Church says: “We must know Christ as the source of Grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin(Canon 388).” In His life, death, and resurrection, Christ became the “New Adam.” By participating fully in human nature, Christ took on the fullness of humanity, free from the bonds of original sin, and yet always choosing the will of the Father.

Even though Christ came to save all man-kind from the consequences of Original Sin, the effects still remain. Sin is still very prevalent in our society and as long as there is sin the world, there will be ugly shoes.

Peace Homeboys. Spuds out.