"You Walk Wrong" (Or, "Why I Go Barefoot")

Please note that this is not a diatribe about how great going barefoot is, nor is it a slight to those people who prefer shoes. I wish the best for everyone, no matter how you are shod.

When we lived in San Diego, I went barefoot a lot. First off, the weather was fantastic, so my feet never got cold. Secondly, I worked at home, and being something of a homebody, I didn't leave the house for days at a time. Consequently, I didn't wear shoes for days at a time.

Fast forward to the Portland life, and for the past few summers, I've gone barefoot as much as possible. I used to commute downtown on my bike and so while I wore clip-in bike shoes for the ride, I would go barefoot during the day in the office, and generally got by being barefoot for any errands I had to do while at work. During the winter months, I would only wear thick woolly socks at the office.

I'm back to working at home now, and I'm taking a cue from Lily, who simply doesn't like shoes. As soon as we're done with a trip some place, she takes her shoes off, no matter if it's winter or summer. I joke with her that she's wearing her "hobbit shoes" whenever she's barefoot.

And in a natural extension to the unschooling philosophy, I've been questioning the "norm" of wearing shoes at all. Lily frequently goes out on errands without wearing any shoes. No one has ever stopped me (or her) to ask us to put on our shoes. We do, however, wear shoes in restaurants and grocery stores because I know the proprietors can get fined should any customers be shoeless.

All this time, I had some nagging suspicion that going barefoot is "better", in the same way that eating organic foods is "better" and getting enough sleep is "better". I've just not been exposed to any one who espouses the better-ness of going barefoot.

So I've been going barefoot a lot this spring and summer. Much of my gardening has been barefoot (except when I'm digging and spading, for which I use my feet to push on shovels). All of my work days at home have been barefoot. I've always slept barefoot. And I'm finding myself going barefoot alongside Lily at various other times: On walks around the block, on errands and picking berries. When I'm not barefoot, I'm wearing flip-flops which let me go from barefoot to shod depending on the terrain.

I'm also a runner, and I came across a new shoe called the Nike Free, which is supposed to emulate barefoot running. Further Googling led me to this article from New York Magazine, titled "You Walk Wrong", which has pushed me over the top. I'm now striving to go barefoot.

Of course it helps that we're going to be installed a radiant floor heating system before this winter comes around :)