Walking in Someone Else's Shoes

There have been times over the years when I have asked, or been asked 'what would it be like to be that person/in that situation/having that experience?'
Sometimes it is impossible to fully put ourselves in someone else's shoes.
Other times however, we get the chance to literally have the opportunity to walk a mile (or across Central Park) in someone else's shoes.
The other day I was walking with my friend Seth. He was wearing flip flops that had been rubbing his feet raw. He had blisters and cuts across his feet and could barely go on. He had wrapped his flip flops in paper towels, but still, the pain continued.
(Let me add here that Seth is very tough and not at all a complainer).
We agreed to switch shoes to provide his feet some temporary relief.
I was so focused on walking in big man flip flops swaddled in paper towels, that I did not immediately realize how foolish Seth looked. He did not seem to mind traipsing across the park in women's sandals. Of course, I noticed (but in our relationship, I have always been the one more concerned about social behaviors).