Sure, the shoes don’t look as good as they once looked. In fact, they look far from it. Despite the polish and attempts to cover up the scuffmarks, they still look well worn and unsightly. It defies explanation, but they are the pair you intuitively reach for when it doesn’t matter how you look.
Thankfully the shoes still work. In a perfect world, you’d opt to wear them everyday because they are broken-in and don’t represent a threat of discomfort. They may not look nearly as shiny and unmarred as they once did when they were new, but the comfort compensates for the scuffmarks and well-worn look.
Based on the kinds of feedback I generally get from my brother in Oklahoma, shining one’s shoes doesn’t make a hill of beans worth of difference in the oilfields of Oklahoma. Of course, my brother generally wears boots, so I’m not sure he is the expert.
According to the Shoe Service Institute of America, 89% of business recruiters rate good grooming high on the requirement for senior executive staff. According to the Shoe Service Institute of America: "Shoes are a reflection of their owner’s personality…Well kempt shoes stand for professionalism, attention to detail, ambition, efficiency, conscientiousness, organization, confidence and even friendliness”.
So the analogy associated to being as familiar and comfortable as “a well worn pair of jeans or shoes” resonates with each of us. It is a frame of reference that stands for comfort and everyday.
When I first heard the sound last week, I had absolutely no idea where the sound was coming from or what it represented. I heard the sound in the building’s elevators. I heard the sound in the hospital’s cafeteria. The tune was unmistakable. Anyone who has ever viewed a re-run of “Name That Tune” would have no difficulty getting the name of this song correct.
Even if they were my age and no one sang the song to them as children, they without doubt would have sang the song to their children or grandchildren. While the tune was unmistakable, the frequency and timing seemed left to chance.
Unlike a grandfather clock that strikes on the hour and chimes at fifteen-minute- intervals, there was no such pattern with this sound. Sometimes the sound was so faint that I could barely hear it. At other times, the sound was forceful and strong in a gentle kind of way. Perhaps most noticeable was that there did not appear to be a consistent pattern.
When I first heard the sound, I had no idea as to it’s meaning. Sure, I immediately connected it to a nursery rhyme from long ago. You know the kind I am talking about. They are the kind of nursery rhythms that have withstood the test of time.
I bet you remember the tune and the words as well? How did it go? “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are! Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky…”
It seemed like the song’s sound came out of nowhere. As I shared, there was no set interval when one could anticipate the sound, but even without an interval, there was something comforting about the sound.
l remember those words from my childhood. The words were playfully sung to me by my mother. I even remember singing the song to my children when they were little. I bet the same is true for you?
So, why the sound of Twinkle twinkle, little star? I’m not sure who had the idea, but it was absolutely brilliant. Every time a baby is born at St. David’s hospital, at the time of the child’s birth, the sound of “twinkle, twinkle little star” is piped through the corridors and common areas of the hospital.
The sound puts folks on notice that a baby has been born. The subtle announcement of the emergence of a new life in a setting primarily associated to sickness and end of life experiences is such a refreshing contrast.
Every time I heard the sound, it put a smile on my face and a sense of joy in my heart. I couldn’t help but wonder about the parents and grandparents and brother and sisters, aunts and uncles and everyone associated to the arrival of that little life. What joy the sound had to hold for them.
Last night as I left the hospital, out of nowhere the sound of “twinkle, twinkle, little star” filtered through the hallway and I smiled with the thought that a baby had been born. It was a happy thought.
All My Best!
Don