Life Without Shoes

This random subject occured to me today after walking to the library - where would we be without shoes?

What would be your biggest problem, right now, if you did not have a pair of shoes?

POLL:

I like shoes votes = 9
I don't like shoes votes = 7

 

Life without shoes? Well, there have been civilizations that apparently frowned on people wearing shoes.

I think our feet will pretty much BE like our shoes. They'll be tough, thick, and able to handle stepping on prickly things...to an extent of course.

 

So do you like shoes or despise shoes?

 

Eh...

I'll go with "I like shoes" because shoes can act as a shield should you ram your foot against a table leg.

 

I used to live in an area with snow-covered cactus patches....

 

There was once a man who lived in the wilderness. He was annoyed that he would continually hurt his feet on stones and sharp branches. So he commiserated with a friend, saying, "I should make a path connecting all the places I go to, and cover it with soft animal skins. Then I would no longer h=urt my feet."

His friend replied, "I have a different idea."

 

I don't like shoes!!

 

Well, shoes, like all clothing, are artifacts of culture.

There is nothing "natural" about them.

I for one am not a shoe person. I have dozen of pairs of sandals, tho.

Now, I happen to live somewhere conducive to the not wearing of shoes.

Were I a Lapp, I might feel differently about the subject.

 

Nice - thanks for the responces, everyone! What about everyone else?

 

Shoes are important! How else am I supposed to lord it over people with lowly salaries who can't afford to drown their feet in silk slippers covered with diamonds?

...but seriously, shoes are a status symbol in certain circles; they won't be going any time soon. My biggest problem without shoes would be losing a foot to infection due to cuts and scrapes gained from the road on my motorbike.

 

You know those calluses that people spend all this time and money exfoliating and moisturizing away? We would need those. Our feet would each become one big callus.

 

I never wear shoes when I don't have to. I go bearfoot anywhere I can get away with it.

 

My wife and daughters single-handedly saved the nation from economic collapse by purchasing more shoes than any woman should own. All I have to show for it is a lousy VISA bill!

 

i'd much rather go barefoot, and do so as much as possible... my only pair of 'outside' shoes are a plastic version of birkenstock sandals...

in the house, i only wear a pair of slip-on chinese 'house slippers' which i take off when not walking around... and wouldn't wear those, if i didn't have people coming in and out of my place, to get the free books i provide for all on the island...

if i had neither of those, my biggest/only problem would be walking to the grocery shops on rocky ground...

 

Shoes were certainly invented to protect feet from prickly things and the like, but they also have the very desireable characteristic of preventing you from picking up parasites. You don't want to go walking barefoot through a place where animals have been kept even if it's been several years since they were there. Not so much a problem now, but a very big deal back in the day.

 

Now I've got that awful song stuck in my head:

Shoes.
Shoes.
Let's get some shoes.

 

I refuse to wear shoes outside of school. I hate them. Even if they're my size they hurt my feet (mum says it's only in my mind. But it's not, I'm telling you)! I wear thongs (slip on shoes, for you non-australians) whenever possible.

 

Ha ha, I actually grew up calling them that and was very confused when I first heard the word used with its usual meaning. :redface:

 

I know. I went camping one time and met some canadians. I got some very funny looks when I told them I just had to go grab my thongs

 

I hardly ever wore shoes when I was a kid, and could run around quite comfortably on rough surfaces (gravel etc), hot sand and such with out a problem. Then I developed a passion for knee-high boots, particularly of the pirate variety.

Also, I see too many uncouth people spitting on the street - I need my shoes.

 

I hated wearing shoes as a child. I never kept them on my feet, but my grandfather would tell me that I was going to die from a horrible cold if I didnt wear my shoes. We lived on a farm, and I rarely had anything on my feet, though I will say it was annoying to step on something sharp, but much easier to climb a tree. As an adult living in the north, I appreciate them because of the cold weather, but as a kid, I saw no importance.
I think shoes are important, though I hate the constricted feeling. I like to be free.

 

I would be in Heaven without shoes!!! Hey, I have been known (more than once) to run across the asphalt in the rain.

I love the grass under my feet, the way it feels cool and soft. I love to dig my toes in the sand at the beach. Nope, I am all for no shoes, baby!!!

I hate the winter time when I have to wear shoes, but I do love those cashmere and angora socks.

 

I call them thongs, too.

And I'm torn. I love shoes...looking at them, trying them on, owning more pairs than I should...

but I don't like wearing them.

 

I'm sooo glad someone else goes out running in the rain. I always thought I was the only one with that strange habit!! Haha.

 

I love shoes, and I can't live without them. Shoe shopping is one of my many loves.


However, if I was forced to live without them...... *gulp* I could cope.

Every time it rains here, my brother and I run out and play in the rain for a long time. It's one of the great joys of life, running in the rain.