I want to talk about shoes. There is a guy who walks to class barefoot. This makes me happy. I do not know why. He is tall, with longish-blonde hair - a hippie like me maybe? Anyway, I think he is important. I think I have things to learn from him. Is it the freedom from the constraint of wearing shoes? He makes me want to write about them.
A college campus is the perfect place to write about shoes - there are so many to see. Tennis shoes, dress shoes, pointy toed, black lace, high heeled, flip flops, sandals (though none like mine... are 'Jesus sandals' really so unusual?) I think people are the only species to cover their feet. Does this further our inherent human need to distance ourselves from the animals?
Signs tell us "No shoes, No shirts, No service". We have societalized the need to wear shoes, taken away the choice to wear shoes or not - Why? Does it matter if you have shoes to go into a convenience store? Are the candies going to be infected by a persons' dirty feet stepping on the dirty floor that the candies don't even touch?
Wow - I never thought of the concept of shoes being, really, a concept of control. We are told that we MUST wear shoes. I am sure that people walking by barefoot guy think how strange he is, how abnormal. We are brainwashed into believing that 'different' means 'abnormal'. I like that he has rejected this means of direct control. I like that it makes me question - whose authority is it to decide whether or not I wear shoes? Why is it anyone's decision except for mine? I think I need to go and sit where I can watch these tiny control devices more closely... perhaps there is more to them than meets the eye.
I am going to have to stop barefoot guy and tell him what I have learned from him...
0 comments:
Post a Comment