Bye- bye Buster Brown

Did you know that their are no health department regulations governing wearing shoes? Turns out No Shoes No Service is a bogus claim and has no basis. You can legally go into any store or restaurant in this country & technically not be refused service. Can you believe that? Despite what we have all been taught, it is also not illegal to drive without shoes. I found this great site about the Society of Barefooters made up of people that go barefoot everywhere all the time. Isn't that great? Check it out. I'm not a big rock the boat kind of gal, so I won't be demanding my rights to eat at McDonald's barefooted. Just because we have a legal right to do something, I still wouldn't want to be disrespectful or offensive to others. But other than public establishments I am finding this whole concept of being barefoot most of the time fascinating. I went barefooted a lot in the summer as a child, but mostly I was raised by the generation of women that believed in buying only the" best" name brand shoes (Buster Brown usually) for support and proper foot development you know. If you wore "cheap" improperly supported shoes you would be crippled for life. Not to mention all the horrible tragedy that awaits the unwise who run about unshod. Well, I started doing a lot of thinking about this which always leads to trouble and a lot of research. I started wondering why people believe and insist they need $80 shoes "for support" which occured to me is an extremely new idea as far as history goes, definitely a current event. Or more accurately, yet another successful marketing ploy. We were brainwashed. I thought of all the peoples who walked this earth without the aid of Nike or Reebok for thousands of years, the Indians who hunted in only moccasins in the winter. Turns out my hunch was right, there is a ton of info out there about how shoes are actually usually more of a negative factor in the forming of our feet and most of the reasons we choose to need them so much are actually myth. Hollywood and society as usual have also put ideas in our minds of how it is supposed to be. For instance, in movies like Rob Roy Scottish Highlanders fought barelegged and barefooted, not in the nifty sexy manly leather boots the costume designer shod them in. Yesterday was my first full day in my entire life of going barefooted. Before my feet touch the floor in the mornings, I slip them into tenny shoes and they don't come off again til I crawl back into bed at night. As an adult I have never enjoyed being barefooted. I think that came mostly from embarrassment at a foot deformity I have. Which probably came from my Buster Browns. :) But I have decided this is one more thing I want to change in my life. I want to enjoy feeling the earth beneath my feet, get over not wanting to get my feet dirty & never again think about what I may look like. Friends have always teased me about how I always wear shoes, all summer long & even in the house. Well, now I am a believer! As usual, I didn't start in moderation or pick an "easy" day. My first day was while we were camping at the river. When I stepped out of the tent and slipped my foot into my shoe I decided this was the day. So I spent all day on gravel, ashes, rocks, glass, dirt, mud, grass & in the river. After a full day of having my poor confused feet out of shoes, I rubbed them with healing salve and put on little cotton footie socks to sleep in and within 2 minutes I was having to kick them off. I felt suffocated! I have given away all my athletic shoes and all my socks. I have a pair of sandals to keep in the car for going in to public places. I will get a pair of slip on boots or moccasins for the snow. And that's it. It is going to take some time but as soon as my sore feet get tough enough, I am going to do some hiking. As far as shoes and laundry and the never ending nightmare of keeping up with socks...my life just got a whole lot simpler. If getting rid of shoes and socks feels this good, I wonder...hhmmmmm. I am so sad for teaching my kids to wear shoes (Tallulah was right!) & for always fussing at Gaston for never wearing shoes outside. If you have something about yourself that you wish you did differently, something that makes you feel safe & comfortable but you want to be carefree about...go for it. Give it a try! You are never too old and it is never too late to do something new or different. If you hear yourself yelling "Get your shoes on!" several times a day...don't. Let'em go. If you haven't walked over moss or fresh cut grass or squished mud between your toes lately, give it a try. You will feel like a kid again and suddenly a lot of things that seemed important aren't anymore.
http://www.barefooters.org/
http://www.savingsimply.com/2007/04/25/the_butterfly_effect_of_not_wearing_socks/