March 29, 2006--If The Shoe Fits
If you have been thinking about Imelda Marcos and wondering what she is up to, allow the NY Times and me to bring you up to date. (See Times story below.)
First of all, she is alive and as well as can be expected for someone who became an orphan early in life and lost her beloved husband, Ferdinand, more than 25 years ago and who left her with only $5 to $10 billion, including 7,500 tons of gold (yes tons) and 1,200 pairs of shoes. So how good can she really be?
A note about the shoes--though she amassed a huge collection while First Lady, she retained just 200 when she escaped to Hawaii. So when she opened her Shoe Museum in Manila a few years ago she was able to put only those few on display. When she cut the ribbon, Mrs. Marcos told reporters that "this museum is making a subject of notoriety into an object of beauty." Others of her shoes, if you are interested, are currently for sale on eBay, size 8 1/2.
But Imelda these days is about more than just shoes--at age 77 she is into The Seven Pillars of Moral Regeneration. For those of you taking notes, they are: ecological order, human order, economic order, social order, cosmic order, and peace, and order itself. She has this so worked out that she goes about making PowerPoint presentations about the Pillars, including sharing the wisdom she has gleaned from her life and years—“Beauty is God made real”; “Common sense is common to all”; and closer to home, “The only things we keep are those we give away.”
On the subject of things, Mrs. Marcos has also moved on—all her jewelry these days is made from recycled plastic. “I’m more bejeweled than before,” she is quoted as saying, “Bejeweled with garbage.” And to demonstrate that she is no longer interested in rubies and emeralds, just this garbage, she has servants bring in trays and trays of her plastic jewelry, “I have jewelry for every dress and for every shoe and for everything.”
I suspect you think I am being ironic, actually mocking this extraordinary woman who has been through so much. Well, you would be wrong—I have inordinate respect for anyone who had so much who is now happy with so little. She has clearly been on a spiritual quest and has found a higher meaning.
I am even thinking that she will soon establish a plastic jewelry museum next to her shoe museum. The Sic Transit Gloria Mundi Museum and Gift Shop.
First of all, she is alive and as well as can be expected for someone who became an orphan early in life and lost her beloved husband, Ferdinand, more than 25 years ago and who left her with only $5 to $10 billion, including 7,500 tons of gold (yes tons) and 1,200 pairs of shoes. So how good can she really be?
A note about the shoes--though she amassed a huge collection while First Lady, she retained just 200 when she escaped to Hawaii. So when she opened her Shoe Museum in Manila a few years ago she was able to put only those few on display. When she cut the ribbon, Mrs. Marcos told reporters that "this museum is making a subject of notoriety into an object of beauty." Others of her shoes, if you are interested, are currently for sale on eBay, size 8 1/2.
But Imelda these days is about more than just shoes--at age 77 she is into The Seven Pillars of Moral Regeneration. For those of you taking notes, they are: ecological order, human order, economic order, social order, cosmic order, and peace, and order itself. She has this so worked out that she goes about making PowerPoint presentations about the Pillars, including sharing the wisdom she has gleaned from her life and years—“Beauty is God made real”; “Common sense is common to all”; and closer to home, “The only things we keep are those we give away.”
On the subject of things, Mrs. Marcos has also moved on—all her jewelry these days is made from recycled plastic. “I’m more bejeweled than before,” she is quoted as saying, “Bejeweled with garbage.” And to demonstrate that she is no longer interested in rubies and emeralds, just this garbage, she has servants bring in trays and trays of her plastic jewelry, “I have jewelry for every dress and for every shoe and for everything.”
I suspect you think I am being ironic, actually mocking this extraordinary woman who has been through so much. Well, you would be wrong—I have inordinate respect for anyone who had so much who is now happy with so little. She has clearly been on a spiritual quest and has found a higher meaning.
I am even thinking that she will soon establish a plastic jewelry museum next to her shoe museum. The Sic Transit Gloria Mundi Museum and Gift Shop.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
12:20 PM
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