At the end of the day I often cannot get home soon enough and peel off my shoes and socks and let my poor dogs free. Part of the everyday costume is the shoes and socks. In order to participate in day-to-day society one must put on shoes and socks, except for life guards, of course, who always go barefoot and are not allowed to wear shoes. Shoes are like little prisons for your toes, and they never ever fit quite right, especially when you have to walk great distances. Being able to peel off the shoes and dump them in a dark corner is a total luxury, letting air circulate around your tired sore feet. Some people don’t take care of their feet, but I let mine out of their cages as often as possible. Shoes are hot in the summer and cold in the winter, which is really not fair, but then again, in life, what is? Sandals of different kinds are a bit of a midway point between shoes and bare feet, which is great in summer, but not so hot for winter, big cities, or mass transit. Bare feet can be kinda sexy. Urban environments are particularly cruel to toes, especially if they are unprotected in flip-flops, which are, of course, unshoes. Bare feet are great at finding the coffee table or the rocking chair in complete darkness–they must have radar. Getting a bare foot rub is an interesting experience. Getting food on your feet seems careless. Nothing like bare feet to cool a person off on a hot day, or relax a person after a lot of stress. Though feet and hands share common evolutionary roots, they couldn’t be more different. Feet are designed to take a lot of pounding–walking, running, dancing, ice skating, jumping, kicking, skipping, standing, marching, and climbing. Feet do it all, even without an opposable thumb. The big toe is more for spring and balance than for grasping anything. Feet have an elegant architecture of bone and sinew, muscle and calluses, which joins vertical movement with horizontal movement, all the while trying to keep everything topside in balance. When your feet fail you, you are headed down in a pretty unpleasant way. Yet, we abuse our feet, putting them in harms way, letting them get dirty or smelly. Often, going barefoot is hazardous duty, and I’ve seen more than one toe find a rusty old pop-top. I once stepped on a tack that sent me through the roof and to student health care for a tetanus shot. Going barefoot on a warm summer day shows a complete disdain for order and manners, but who cares. Perhaps a poem by Berke Breathed as recited by my favorite barefoot character in the world, Opus the Penguin: How I love to watch the morn / With golden sun that shines, / Up above to nicely warm / These frosty toes of mine. / The wind doth taste of bittersweet, / Like jasper wine and sugar. / I bet it’s blown through others’ feet / Like those of Casper Weinberger. / — Berke Breathed, “Bloom County”