I was walking down the street the other day when an enormous SUV drove into the puddle next to me and soaked me from head to toe. Needless to say, I was furious. I stood there for a good two minutes, fuming. I wanted to run after the SUV and throw a rock into his windshield. Or at the very least egg the vehicle. I wanted to do something to get back at him for ruining my favorite shoes. They were expensive, over a hundred dollars, and from New York. New York City! The fashion center of North America!
So I turned around and went straight home. I was supposed to be at work, but how could I work when that imbecile had destroyed my shoes? I probably spent a good hour trying to salvage what was left of the shoes – drying them carefully with my hair dryer, gently dabbing them with a dry cloth...you get the picture.
But they still weren’t anything compared to what they had been. The material was rough and wrinkled, and the shoes themselves just weren’t comfortable any longer. But despite the fact that they were no longer wearable, I couldn’t bring myself to throw them out. I put them in front of my bed, where I could always see them, and was reminded of that fateful day when they were destroyed.
Even when I wasn’t around them, I couldn’t keep my mind off of those shoes. I spent weeks looking for shoes that could replace them. I bought dozens of pairs, but I found nothing that was even close in comparison.
Because of my unhappiness and discomfort, I found myself falling into a depression that even another trip to NYC couldn’t fix. I lost my job. My boyfriend left me. And I felt more hatred for that SUV than I had even when he destroyed them.
My best friend decided to take me shopping to try to cheer me up. She took me to the largest mall in the area with stores like Banana Republic, Dolce & Gabbana and Chanel. She dragged me around for hours, forcing me to try on the clothes that no longer appealed to me. The buzz around me no longer gave me rush it once had. And I realized then how much damage that SUV had done. It had destroyed me.