They say that before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if they get angry, you’ll be a mile away and they’ll have a hard time chasing you without shoes.

I think most of us know the true justification for the saying, but either way it’s good advice.

I criticize my teenage kids a lot, so it was good last week to have a chance to try the “walk a mile in their shoes” adage for myself. Fortunately, I did not literally have to wear my son’s smelly shoes to get the full effect. But unfortunately for me, my “walk” was really a run and the mile was actually a little more than three miles. I ran in the annual Turkey Trot cross country race at my son’s high school. (more…)