Coments & Remarks about barefooting

By and large most comments I get are positive and supportive. Once in a while I'll hear "that guys crazy". But most of the time people are cool with me being barefoot walking the trails or hangin out. Sometimes you'll hear envious remarks like "his feet must be like leather" or "wow I can't believe how easy he makes it look" Just sunday a nice women said "you really are getting in touch with nature" she went on about how nice it must be to enjoy the day without shoes I thought about telling her it was free and she could try for her self but Just agreed and went on my way. What kinds of comments do you all get? I'd be interested to hear how many negative comments you get as well as positives. Archie

 

As a year-round shorts person in the cold state of Maine, I'm used to weird looks, comments, mostly from rugged Mainers. It's getting better as time goes on, though; more and more people are seen wearing shorts in the winter, most of them a wee bit younger than I am, but some are my age. The difference is I actually work outside except in the most dangerous cold, while most others wearing shorts in snow and cold are just offto school or shopping, etc We live in heated houses, drive heated vehicles, and go to heated buildings---one ought to be able to move thru frigid air in the brief spaces required. And anyone living here needs an emergency kit of warm clothes in vehicle in case of being stranded away from help.

For the part of the year when it is possible, I'm a barefooter, almost all the time, every chance I get. Sandals allow me to extend the bf season at both the autumn and spring ends. A layer of insulation between sole and frozen ground is enough, in April and November. It is NOT enough during the frigid winter proper. I do barefoot in the snow some, not when it is deep, but in my climate it is often extremely cold, and then it is not a good idea. When it is frigid, I can just make it out to the truck to retrieve something I forgot, and get back inside again. Few people ever see me do this so I don't get comments. People DO see me barefooting over old snow in April on nice days, and I never hear a comment. Granular snow in spring on sunny days feels wonderful. REALLY wonderful.

It has taken me a long time to brave the types of stores that are known to harass. The nearby hip town of Bar Harbor is mostly very easy, but not all Maine towns are hip. I have had only two bad comments from stores, grocery/ fast convenience only. In both instances I simply told them I had no shoes, and that I was only inside to pay for my gas which had already been pumped, so they best just let me do my business and leave. I am older than most who would dare to be both in shorts and barefoot at the same time, but I am quite young looking for my age. I don't know what I'll do if that changes when I really am older. Being young helps, as others on this board noted earlier. I do not look my 52 yrs, but I surely don't look like I'm in my 20's either. Best guess is I look mid 30's. Several folks here in that age are barefooters, so I can be too!

I wish we barefooters could merely absolve these stores of any liability in the event of any type of injury: instead of the no barefeet bs, how about signs saying, "Bare Feet at Own Risk---"

Since I work outside, barefooting while gardening, pruning, designing landscapes, is natural and easy. I get interested and envious looks there. If nothing else, we Mainers really enjoy our short summers, and that seems to take some of the stigma off of people like me.

 

I actually went barefoot for the first time in a long while in public today, and though I got a few stares, no one said anything while I was out. My sister told me when I got back to my parents' house that it was gross and unclean. I didn't argue with her; I didn't need to.

If I hear anything else about barefootin', I'll let you know!

xoxo, Seashell

 

It must be VERRY nice where you are now! Spring is something other places have, not us in Maine, at least not much. Never mind what your sister says about bare footing, and enjoy yourself!

 

Cool Spruce & Seashell, I'm so glad you responded to this post. I think it's helpfull to share our experiences, Good and Bad. Comments can help us to realize the mindset of those shoe wearers and help them to adjust to us. We see things from a different perspective than they do. thanks again for your interest Archie

 

Now that I think back on the only 2 unpleasant reactions, one in a small grocery store and one in a gas/convenience store, BOTH in the same town---one was a cashier and the other a store manager who I could tell had been sent for by a lower employee. Both seemed stricken somehow. Not by how I looked, I hope! Can't believe I look that bad. More like stricken by a breach I'd made, the serious infraction. Like I was about to do something awful, rob the store, or something.

In both cases I asked if it was because of Maine health department" rules. Both said yes. I told both that there was no such "health department" and definitely no such rules. And I had no shoes. Which is no lie. Flops remain in the way back of the truck. No shoes ever except Nov-March cold period. This all seemed only to stun them further. Both ended with a feeble bleat: "well, ya hafta wear them in here---" or some such.

I may brave the almighty Walmart this summer.

 

Yesterday I was at a garage sale (yeah yeah I know, it's only one step above garbage picking...so what) and one of the people there said "That's how I'd like to be right now" and her friend or someone (I had my back turned) said "like what?" and the first woman said something about my bare feet. I wanted to tell her she could, it's as easy as untying two simple knots, but being the rather shy person I am, I didn't say anything, though it did please me mightily.

 

I'm kinda shy that way too, except when they say it directly to me, about my bare feet, shorts, or both. When it's direct like that, then I can and do always say to them that they can---apparently many think they can't. These imaginary barriers we all have in one form or another are truly amazing, and stiffling. Sad.

 

parking lots in southern california are very hot in august

 

Interestingly enough, nobody says anything about it. Its not that people are accepting its just that they don't care.

I went into McDonalds with a buddy and he asked why I put my sandals on (I go into stores barefoot, and put sandals on if I am told...) and I said "This is McDonalds. I want to live for at least twenty more years."

Not paying attention I stepped on a glass bottle. It cracked beneath my foot and I didn't realize it until i pulled at shard out at home. My heels are just like that now... it wasn't in really deep...

 

I grew up barefoot in the swamps of south Merritt Island, Florida. I had the toughest soles of anyone I knew and by the time I was 15, I could pretty much walk on glass, and oyster/mussel beds without getting a scratch. Then 13 years wearing boots pretty much softened my feet, and in that time I learned to appreciate the beauty and softness of a well-cared for female foot. Do I don't barefoot much out of doors but do have sandals, and don't belittle anyone for their freedom and contact with the holy mother.

 

True, if someone talks to me I'll talk back, but I'm not one to just jump in. I guess it's just another invisible barrier (which doesn't exist for me on the internet, interestingly enough).

 

Another thing I have a hard time doing, possibly because of invisible barriers, is complimenting anyone else I see barefooting, or doing as I do with shorts in the long "off-season" here. I usually can do it, or a word of encouragement, but it's hard for some reason. It's hard to know how to come on to people, who might be of any age. (I don't want them to think I'm on about anything else besides the encouragement!) Sometimes they're more awkward than I, but other times we both enjoy a brief self-congratulatory moment of "look at us---!" That's always wonderful when it happens.

 

I went to my neigborhood grocery store (Safeway) barefoot yesterday. A small group which consisted of 2 guys, and a girl passed me as I was walking over towards the check out counter. They looked like your normal college idiots who think drinking beer at the frat is actually fun, and waste all their time doing stupid things that they think is funny. Anyway, as they passed by the girl smiled, and after we had completely passed, I heard her mutter under her breath to her two friends with a small laugh, "No shoes, no sale."

I smiled out of sympathy that she somehow thought it was amusing that I was barefoot, and that it impacted her little college head so much that she felt the need to try to make a joke.

The sad thing, is that her little phrase isn't how the saying goes anyway. She deeply failed in her attempt to make a funny coment about something that really has no effect on her life.

In my opinion... She could have done better.

 

The few comments I get about my way of dress (or undress) mostly seem to come from surprise, sometimes criticizm, sometimes praise. When it's a negative, I can almost (barely) understand it when it comes from an old fuddy-duddy or someone with a much older mindset than mine. But when it comes from those who I assumed were younger, freer, cooler, than I might be, it stings a bit.

Sometimes it just seems members of our human race feel that they just have to say something. Thus the chance for misfiring. That may be why I'm careful even when I'm complimenting someone for their bf, etc. I don't want it to come off as useless public chatter, or any other possible wrong way.

This grocery store problem is another reason I'm quite meticulous about being clean. To the point that it's reasonable, of course. We've got to get it out of these peoples' heads that being bare is dirty. Trying to make it look good, the way we know it is.

I'm lucky that way too. Working outside, I alternate between the joy of garden soil, then lawn, then puddles. A hose is never far away. My free time to barefoot around Bar Harbor is limited to rainy days, and we all know the benefits of padding around thru the puddles---so I'm rarely dirty.

 

True, but I try to remind myself that their world is so shallow and "conformist" that their insult makes me feel pity more than anger. As Fangz was saying, these are the people who think drinking and being assholes is the point of youth. It's stuff like that which makes me feel glad I never was one of the "cool kids" though of course in high school I didn't always feel that way (ah, the benefits of getting some perspective). These people will either learn a hard lesson some day, or won't and will remain in their small world for life. Either option is sort of sad.

So if they really must make fun of my bare feet (or whatever else), I shrug it off. Their hating doesn't hurt me, but it probably hurts them.