Toms "A Day Without Shoes" April 16

Anyone take part in this? I totally missed it. I don't wear Toms and actually didn't know what they were until I was surfing the net and found that, over pretty much the whole globe, Toms had made up this "day without shoes"... Go barefoot to see what it's like for the unfortunate kids in Africa who don't have shoes.

On flickr and youtube theres pictures and some videos of people going barefoot, usually around college campus' and some in middle and high schools. I would die to participate / spectate.

Where was I?

It was like an invitation to "legally" go barefoot. If the place says "you need shoes", you can come back with, "we're doing this for the poor kids in Africa...(or however you want to say it)... so if you don't like it, you're saying F-YOU to the poor kids".

I think Toms needs to ramp it up- maybe we could help. Maybe Toms will do this once a year. Maybe we should email them the good idea.

 

Hmmm. I think that action had a certain double-edged sword quality to it. Sure, it's a great thing to have a barefoot day sanctioned by some sort of awareness, but I think the crucial part of fighting poverty in the so-called third world, or to be more precise in certain regions of Africa, is not to call for shoes for the poor but rather providing a steady supply of clean water and solving sewage problems to prevent further sickness and suffering.

Furthermore, it was a great help for a shoe company to establish a reputation of political correctness for their products. IMO, it's not so much helping in building up acceptance towards barefooting but rather sending the message that it's OK and p.c. to wear TOMS shoes, rather than being barefoot.

Even though it might have been nice and refreshing to see more barefooters out there, they were barefoot not for the sake of pleasure and health but rather as a penance of the "rich" towards the poor, barefoot kids in Africa... That's not quite the message that should be conveyed by barefooters, IMO.

Wiggling toes,

~*Ganesha*~

 

I completely & totally agree with that, Ganesha! However sympathic the action may be, it's the wrong kind of 'excuse'.

 

I took part just because on my campus, it was perhaps the only way to meet people that might actually enjoy being barefoot or are trying it for the first time. Though I don't agree with the message, it's one of the only ways to get people to actually try going barefoot (and hopefully like it enough to do it again)!

 

Totally agree with ganesha and them above-this was a completely selfish and wrong minded campaign-going barefoot is bad and makes you sick is the message i got-ever think there might be African kids and people evrywhere who LIKE going barefoot and don't need some rich American interference in their culture and lifestyle...I bet if there was a Toms Shoe store, they wouldn't allow Barefooters in...boo, Toms.

 

Meh, they'd let barefoot people in so that they can put some shoes on them, for a price! They'd also let barefoot people in on their One Day Without Shoes, too, since they're the ones encouraging one barefoot day out of the year.

However wrong minded it might be to discourage barefooting, the sickness is real. Quite a few of them actually do get sick from it because they walk on volcanic ash all day. I just hope there's a better way for them to avoid podoconiosis from the sulfites in the ash/soil.

 

This reminds me back in 1999 when we had Australian troops over in East Timor helping them in their war and they started the "Thongs for EastTimor" campaign, asking everyone in Australia to send thongs (flip-flops) to East Timor for the poor locals who had been living barefoot all their lives.

I get so sick of governments thinking that they can help poor countries and end wars by making everyone wear shoes. What's going on in their heads !!!

 

Although there are high levels of sulfur in affected regions, it appears that the primary agents are silica particles. Zirconium and beryllium, which are "known for their ability to induce granuloma formation in the lymphoid tissue of man" may also play a part. It appears that there is also a high genetic component as well (link requires free login).

Looks like I'll be adding another post to the 1001 places NOT to be barefoot listing...

And BTW, I went barefoot that day...oh, wait...I go barefoot EVERY day...nevermind...

 

Yeah, I understand where most of you are coming from: this day is totally antithetical to our lifestyle. I guess I'm just desperate to meet a local barefooter or to get more people thinking about going barefoot and just doing it. So using this day as a way to achieve my goals seemed like a good idea to at least get people who otherwise wouldn't to try barefooting.