No Shoes No Shirt No Problem Sign
by Tania WL
Hey, how's it going? Some of you are probably sick and tired of seeing the no shoes no shirt no service signs posted in front of many businesses. Luckily we don't see too many of 'em here on the islands. In fact, there is 1 store I know of that has quite the opposite sign on their window. You can read more about the barefoot-friendly sign shown below in the article I wrote about our vacation on Kauai that's published on Jonathan's site.
Pretty cool, huh? Hopefully, more businesses will follow suit and post a similar sign. Wishful thinking? Maybe, maybe not. Remember, we can all create magic in our lives by focusing on what we want.
Anyway, In case you didn't know, June 1st is National Go Barefoot Day which was a couple of days ago. So did any of you go barefoot that day? Did you enjoy it? Did you donate your shoes so you can go barefoot all the time now? Haha, wouldn't that be cool?
Someone asked me why I didn't make a post about the special day. Well, to be honest, I didn't pay much attention to it since I go barefoot everyday anyway. So to me it's just another day. Besides, the real purpose behind that "holiday" is to encourage people to donate their shoes to underprivileged kids. While helping others is a good thing, I don't think shoes are among the top-priority items that those children need. Most of them are quite happy walking around in bare feet. My little sister Sharleen and I are not underprivileged kids, and we choose not to wear shoes.
Nevertheless, we always try to look on the bright side of things, and the National Go Barefoot Day does have one and that is, to encourage people to go barefoot even if only for a day. Some who have tasted the freedom and sensuousness that walking barefoot offers may want to continue doing it. So yeah, the question is why limit it to just 1 day? Do it every day if you enjoy it!
No shoes, no shirt, no problem!
Have an awesome day!
Posts
Thank you Tania for writing the article and posting the interesting picture. I saw a similar sign (without the 'no skirt' part) in Galveston, Texas some years ago but unfortunately I didn't have a camera with me then, and I don't remember the store name.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the national barefoot day. It's really nothing special. It's actually a gimmick for a pro-shoes campaign which is ironic. But like you said, hopefully it will encourage more people to enjoy going barefoot.
ReplyDeleteThe shoe charity thing also gives us a quick excuse when one doesn't have the time or energy to properly promote barefoot health, freedom, and enjoyment.
Usually I will refer a questioner to Dr. Howell's book and/or give them some links to pro-barefoot articles while taking the time to set a positive example. I also show them a few of the newspaper articles that have been published about my wife's and my own bare feet.
But when I'm really in a hurry or have determined that the individual is not worth the time or just plain too closed minded I'll just quickly say "I'm not wearing shoes until...........
-All the troops come home
-All kids have a good pair to wear
-World peace is achieved
-Etc.
Tom's et al has made my life easier and more efficient!
Where YOU live is still much easier, most people over 45 years of age remember many kids as well as adults going almost everywhere in bare feet even in the big city.
We live in a northern U.S. industrial city, and the only time bare feet were seen out and about in town was in the late 60's thru early 70's. Unfortunately most people are either too old to remember, or they are only in their sixties but took part in the 60's so never really remembered much of anything about it.
The "no skirt" part is interesting. It's only a small step away from summarizing it all as "no clothes, no problem!" Not that nudity is so horrible, but it opens up another can of worms.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad we don't have any of those signs (positive or negative) in the Netherlands. It was never really a 'thing' like that. Unfortunately barefooting is very uncommon, but it also isn't as problematic as it is for e.g. Americans. So far I've always been treated like any other customer in shops.
I do catch some attention. You'll certainly get some dirty looks. Especially ironic when smokers do it. But they don't overstep boundaries, and you don't need to build up very thick skin for most interactions that come about to feel positive.
I've also caught some police attention. They seem to think that everything that isn't normal is suspicious. Gah. How liberal. They can't do much, but after a few encounters it does get annoying.
I'm glad there are so many people out there who are also barefooters because my mom thinks I'm a bit nutty for not wearing shoes and going everywhere in my Barefoot Feet. Maybe someday she will think otherwise when my footwear gets as big and well known as Toms!
ReplyDelete