A Day Without Shoes

It wasn't a difficult choice- going barefoot- there's a kind of thrill of being shoeless in public anyways. In America, we hardly ever go without shoes, and I always savored the few times in high school that, for whatever reason, I didn't have shoes on in class. There was a newness to it, a neat feeling, a rebellion of sorts.

Needless to say, this isn't the case for everyone in the world. But the need for shoes never really crossed my mind until I heard about TOMS and their movement 3 years ago. For those of you who have never heard about TOMS, it goes a little something like this: For every one pair of shoes you buy from TOMS, they give one pair to a child in need. Cool huh? Did I mention that the TOMS I have are also the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned? Yeah, it's true (sorry Rainbows, but you take a very close 2nd).

Anyways, TOMS promotes a "Day Without Shoes," challenging people around the world to bare their soles for a day, not only to see what it's like, but also to help raise awareness and about the fact that:

• A leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted diseases, which can penetrate the skin through bare feet. Wearing shoes can help prevent these diseases, and the long-term physical and cognitive harm they cause.
• Wearing shoes also prevents feet from getting cuts and sores. Not only are these injuries painful, they also are dangerous when wounds become infected.
• Many times children can't attend school barefoot because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don't have shoes, they don't go to school. If they don't receive an education, they don't have the opportunity to realize their potential.

(taken from TOMS.com - www.toms.com/movement-one-for-one)

So like I said, it wasn't a difficult choice to go barefoot, not just because I like not wearing shoes, but because there are people who've never had a pair of their own.

The night before, I washed my feet really good, took off that old and chipping nail polish, and spent more time on my pedicure than I probably should have. But what I wanted to do was start with the best possible feet and see how bad they got after a whole day without shoes.

That night I also got out the sharpies and drew the iconic TOMS flag on my right foot and wrote "A DAY WITHOUT SHOES" on my left. This wasn't to call attention to my feet, but merely to direct that guy in Anthropology class to the source causing all the bare-footed-ness around him.

The Day Of: One of the weirdest parts was simply the act of leaving my dorm room- fully dressed, backpack on.. no shoes. It felt incomplete, and I smiled at the strangeness of it. Throughout the day I walked to all of my classes (in lieu of taking the shuttle, as per usual). Being in the library was definitely weird. I saw a few other people with bare feet, to which we exchanged mutual smiles and adorned our lips with expressions such as, "hey, nice feet" and "I like your style." (I thought it was neat how events like this seem to break down that dumb social 'rule' that says we cannot converse with strangers).

What struck me most about the day was that by 3:00, after walking to and from 3 classes and arriving at my 4th one, my feet hurt! I didn't know how my dance class at 3:30 would go. The balls of my feet were red and raw from the heat and grittiness of the pavement, and my once-pristine soles were caked with the filth of the day. After dance, I was rushing to the grassy patches along the way back to the dorms; their cool, squishiness felt like foot-heaven. It was an accomplishment of sorts to have made it for a whole day, but the only thing I could think was What if you had to get up and do this tomorrow, too? And the next day.. and the next day? I mean granted, my feet would become calloused, and the ground I walked on would not feel so strange anymore, but hard and calloused feet- they hurt. Without shoes I would still be susceptible to cuts, to infections, to injuries (have you ever lost a toenail? worst thing ever).

Anyways- my eyes were really opened up on Thursday. I felt, for a moment, a world without shoes. (It made me want to buy 6 million pairs of TOMS). I also found myself especially aware of all the shoes people were wearing. We all have so many shoes! I just wanted to scream out and tell everybody how fortunate they are- not just for shoes, but to just be living in this country, to have the things they have- food, clothes, help, support, opportunities, school, rights, religion, shoes..

think about it :)

If you'd like to have your very own pair of TOMS go here: TOMS.com and check them out!