I Told My Daddy on You - Knock you out of your shoes

Daddy told me to, “Knock you out of your shoes.”

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” (Ecc. 3:1 NIV)

In this case, “Daddy” is anyone who shares the fatherly advice of GOD the Father. Like in the biblical story of David and Goliath, the phrase “Knock you out of your shoes” refers to the advice that when dealing with a bully, you must learn to stand up for yourself, fight for what’s right, and fight with phenomenal sight.

Check out The Andy Griffith 1961 TV show, season two episode entitled, “Opie and the Bully.” You may get a black eye and you may get your butt whooped, but the truth is, though you may fall, yet will you rise. Though you may fall in the eyes of the Bully and your peers, you will rise with increased strength in character and power in stature. Though the Bully may appear to rise and rule over you, look closely and you will see the beginning of the bully’s descent and fall from grace and esteem. It’s like in the movie, The “Karate Kid.” Every time you get up from being knocked down, the more empowered you become in strength and character and the further down the bully falls from esteem and grace. The tide will turn. At some point the bully will have fallen to such a weak and rejected station in the eyes of truth and justice that the only real source of human power strong enough to help lift the poor wrenched soul from the weight of a disgraced life is your power of forgiveness. The exception is when the Bully is a mentally unstable person.

My advice is, leave crazy folks alone. “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.” (Proverbs 26:4) If they pose a danger to you or the community or society, then get the legal help and support needed to have them committed, confined, condemned, put away, kicked out, put out, or expelled.

“Knock you out of your shoes,” means, “Do, what you have to do.” It may not be pleasant, it may not be easy, and you may be scared, so doing what you have to do takes courage. Courage is not the absence of fear but doing what needs to be done in the face of fear (see the 2001 "Black Knight" movie). “Knock you out of your shoes means,” “Do what needs to be done.”

“A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my rock, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:” (Ps 144:1 English Revised Version)

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Rev. Leonidas The Optometrist November 29, 2025

www.revleonidastheoptometrist.org