I recently read an article that claimed that the first thing most people notice about another person is their shoes. Really? Why their shoes and not their shirt, pants, hair, or jewelry? Why not whether they are tall or short, stalky, or skinny?
Do people first notice shoes because they are used to looking down to see where they are walking? Or, perhaps it is a learned habit from texting and reading their emails.
Personally, the first thing I notice about a person is their eyes. It has been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. I don’t know if that is true or not. I do know that I learn a lot more about a person from their eyes than from their shoes. I never heard anyone claim that shoes are the windows to the soul.
Eyes show a lot of things. Love, cheer, sadness, anger, hate, recognition, and a host of other things. Shoes show scuff marks, mud, run-down heels, or perhaps a broken shoelace. Not much help there in dealing with the individual.
Being something of a contrarian by nature, I think I’ll stick to looking at the eyes first with shoes falling well down the list of things to look at.
Thanks to both of you. Your professional opinions count for a lot.
As they say in police work Ken . . . Good observation!
Cops always look at the hands and the eyes. The hands can kill you and the eyes can betray the action.
My composite drawing interview always had the victim/witness focus on the eyes first. That was the key to rendering a good suspect sketch likeness for ID leads and the subsequent arrest.
Of course when it comes down to looking at shoes first — shoes that are shined make a good impression if you are going to a job interview or wearing your “Sunday go-to-meeting clothes”. I remember the many hours spent spit-shining my shoes and boots for inspection as a Marine. Semper Fi for shinenola!
Ken, before I reached your paragraph where you state the eyes are the pathway to the soul, I already had it in mind. I agree, the eyes say a lot about a person. Having studied body language and incorporating training in Spiritual Direction, the eyes tell the tales. For example, if you are speaking to someone and they are looking not at you, but everywhere else, it tells you that they are only listening to what you have to say half way. The other sign is that when they give you and answer, there- in lies NOT the truth. You article is worth reading, short and to the point!