Hey everyone, here’s a short reflection that I wrote about when Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes, came to visit my school…..
On Monday, February 05, 2010, Blake Mycoskie came to speak to GA Southern students. Blake is the founder and “Chief Shoe Giver” of TOMS Shoes, a company that gives away a new pair of shoes for every pair they sell. During his speech, he talked about the origins of TOMS and how it all got started. He explained that his original intention was just to provide shoes for one village that he visited while he was in Argentina where the children were not allowed to attend school if they did not have shoes. When his business started it grew faster than he imagined and it has evolved into the TOMS Shoes we know today. By the way there is no “TOM”, TOM stands for TOMORROW as in Tomorrow’s Shoes. That’s the philosophy upon which the company was built. Sell a pair of shoes today. Give a pair away tomorrow.
Overall I thought that Blake’s speech was truly inspiring. Not in the usual inspiring way, you know the story about someone pulling themselves up from poverty to be a successful business person to then give to people who don’t have essential needs, but in a different way. I feel that Blake is just like any other person you may run into around GA Southern. He comes from a middle class home, always had what he needed, never had to struggle for anything, but one day he saw a cause that needed his attention and he immersed himself into it to help others. I found it inspiring because it made me believe that I could one day do something to change the world like him.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know that him giving away shoes is not going to cure cancer or create world peace. But I can see that he has truly touched the lives of thousands, and potentially millions with his shoe giving company. I think that is something that everyone should aspire to do. Although everyone will have different paths and different goals in life, I think that everyone should aspire to change the lives of someone for the better. We should aspire to have the world be a somewhat better place because we are on it. If everybody did that this world could be a drastically better place. Most people live their lives only looking out for themselves and possibly their family members, if more people cared about strangers and tried to help others, there is no limit to what we could accomplish as a society and as a world.
