Yesterday, April 5th, was TOMS One Day Without Shoes. If you haven't heard of TOMS, they are a company that sells shoes and for every pair of shoes you buy, another pair goes to a child in need. The company began when Blake Mycoskie went to Argentina in 2006 and realized that most children didn't own a pair of shoes and couldn't afford them. Blake returned later that year to Argentina with 10,000 pairs of shoes that were made possible by TOMS customers. Most children in developing countries grow up without shoes and their families cannot afford them. Soil transmitted diseases are a leading cause of disease in these countries which penetrates the skin through bare feet and this could be prevented simply by wearing shoes. Also, being barefoot can also cause cuts and sores that can later become infected. Schools in these areas sometimes don't allow children to attend school if they do not wear shoes, this prevents most children from receiving the education that they need.
One Day without Shoes is an event that TOMS does every year to spread the word about this need for shoes and to spread the word about TOMS. Yesterday I went one day without shoes for the first time. I had been spreading the word through Facebook about the event and I had received different reactions from different people. Some people were all for it and wanted to do it as well. Others thought it was a good cause but they weren't going barefoot -- no way. Still others thought TOMS shoes was a joke and that their shoes didn't help kids because they weren't sturdy and they thought it was funny that the company told people how terrible it was to go without shoes and then asked the world to do it for a day. I read all of these things.
I have the fault of really caring what other people think; so much that I can put my worth in other people's opinions of me or what I'm doing. Usually when I make a decision this is the first thing that pops into my mind: what will people think of me? It is one of the greatest fears that I have. There is no need to lecture me. I know...I know...don't give into peer pressure...blah, blah, blah. It's not that I consciously even think about it, it just happens. It is something that I have been working on lately. So while reading these comments I was already fighting back these thoughts.
First of all, going barefoot for one day will not do anything terrible to your feet. I mean really, what are people going to do in that day? Go climb mount everest? The worst people could do is probably feel uncomfortable and perhaps cut their foot or get a blister. You aren't going to get a soil transmitted disease and you aren't going to die from going without shoes for ONE day. Those thoughts are ridiculous.
This was actually a bigger deal to me than most people thought. You see, one of my biggest insecurities is my feet. I hate them. They are big, long, thin, and flat and I find them atrocious. This is one reason I almost never wear sandals. I just cover them up with shoes. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I love shoes. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I am so passionate about this company and what they are doing. I'm not sure. I just have a compassionate heart.
Going throughout the day yesterday, people stared...at my feet. I believe my face was probably flushed for most of the day because of the thoughts that were going through my mind. I only saw one person during that entire day that was barefoot like me. On the plus side, it started up conversations. A girl in one of my classes was asking me where my shoes were. I asked her if she had ever heard of TOMS shoes and she said no. So I began to tell her about the company and then the one day without shoes event. She said that was really cool and by the end of our conversation she took off her shoes with me and said she was going to go the rest of the day barefoot. Later that day I had a conversation with the custodian in one of the buildings. She had heard of one day without shoes. Last year she was a custodian for the Family and Consumer Science building and the whole department went without shoes and she did it too for as much of the day as she could, considering her job.
Overall it was a very interesting day, and one that I will remember forever. I know I will continue to participate in One Day Without Shoes for years to come.
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