Date: Sun, 3 Nov 2024 20:31:28 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Tim Mills"
Subject: [SBL] Children, shoes, and society
   (Was: Re: Shoes unsafe in school - well, Crocs )

   > There are very few places kids can get an education without being forced
   > to wear shoes, even in AU and NZ they're required above a certain age.
   > Why does society hate feet so much?

It's all about money and control! There is no money to be made by big cooperate
conglomerate in people going barefoot, so they hate bare feet, and do
everything possible to get rid of them. Remember the Tom's scam a few years
back? Why do you think they wanted to give shoes to poor children, instead of
food, clean water or medicine? It's not charity, it's greed disguised as
compassion. Children in Africa have gone barefoot to school for generations.
Then someone banned bare feet, and asked for caring people for money to give
shoes to poor children. Greed drives suffering and conflict, yet society
embraces it.

Even though it has nothing to do with going barefoot, that why I love this
quote from Hiroshima survivor, and Peace Activist,  Keiji Nakazawa, who wrote
Barefoot Gen (a Manga about the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima):

   "Human beings are foolish. Thanks to bigotry, religious fanaticism, and the
   greed of those who traffic in war, the Earth is never at peace, and the
   specter of nuclear war is never far away."
     ~ Keiji Nakazawa (Quoted from the Birth of Barefoot Gen).

Greed brings out the worst of human nature. Bigotry also plays into it. People
convince themselves that despite evidence to the contrary, shoes somehow make
people better and "more civilized". If you look at crime statistic, that's
also non-sense.The US has probably the highest shoe wearing rate of most of
the civilized word, yet our nation has a frightening level of violence. Just
look at the murder rate. Clearly, we aren't controlling violence effectively!

If you remember, a while back, I wrote to the list about how anti-barefoot
bigotry lead to the open mocking of a boy with Autism in a school where I used
to work. These people mocked and outright insulted a boy with special needs who
couldn't speak, so he couldn't even express how he felt, because he wouldn't
wear shoes in school. How hateful do people have to be if adult enjoy mocking
children with disabilities because they can't tolerate wearing shoes? That's a
disgusting level of spite and ignoran1ce! I am so glad I left that job. The
shoe-culture isn't even about looks, it has become a hate for others. Society
has reached a point where people no longer have compassion for those who
are different from them. Tolerance is not compassion, it's putting up with
something or someone because you have to.

This group has on several occasion discussed the connection between Hippies
and the barefoot/anti-barefoot sentiment of the US. In the past, I though it
was just political, but now I think the hate directed at Hippies, and the
Anti-Barefoot sentiment are much more connected than I understood at the time.
The Hippy movement was thousands of young Americans turning their back not only
on war, but a corrupt social system that abused people for profit. They also
rejected violence and forcing people to do things they thought were wrong. Now
I am beginning to see that it was about so much more than the Vietnam War. The
anti-materialist sentiment was a response to greed run amuck!  Corporate powers
create a demand for what they sell, by making sure people can't live without
what they sell. If you need shoes to go to school, and you don't have them,
they lock you out. Yet, if you do not go to school, you can get in trouble for
truancy! At the end of the day, the point is simple, "If you don't submit to
being shod, we will get you and your family." It's not a choice, and you
have no freedom! Freedom is like eating at a restaurant, you can choose from
anything on the menu, but you can only eat what's on the menu, don't bring your
own. When someone decides what you are allowed to ask for, and have, it is not
real freedom!

When I was grown up, bare feet were still part of some gym uniforms in schools.
I remember doing gym barefoot into high school. Today, if a child doesn't bring
gym shoes (a.k.a. sneakers) to school for PE, they are forced to sit out and
receive a failing grade for the day. When I worked in public schools, I have
seen this done. The child is penalized for not having the shoes adults want
them to wear. As you said, they are excluded from learning because they don't
have shoes. Children are forced to accept the shoe culture, even if they hate
it and it harms them. Why, just this past September, a boy in Montgomery
County, MD was attacked at the bus stop and had his shoes stolen at gunpoint:

   https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/crime/accokeek-attempted-robbery...

I included this in my comments, because it shows how shoes factor into the
greed point I made earlier, as well as how anti-barefoot sentiment affects
people. In times past, some children would have still gone to school barefoot
in September, if the weather was decent. Now, that is not an option, and a
society pushing expensive, poorly made shoes has turned children trying to go
to school into a target for thieves and thugs! Surely, the list will accept the
argument that shoes aren't safe, if they make you a target for an armed robber!
Has this boy been barefoot, the thief might not have even given his a second
look. Shoes create conflict, yet our society won't let people do without. It's
an example of how society created it own problems and conflicts to support the
worse of human nature. If you look back to the quite I included earlier, you'll
see it deeper relevance to my post, and the thread as a whole. Greed and
Bigotry drive conflict, whether we are talking about children in school, or
nations at war. Greed drives the demand for shoes, and the ignorance and
mistreatment of those who don't want to wear them.

Society hates bare feet so much, because they see it as a whole-sale rejection
of their values of greed and power! People don't take kindly to be told their
values are wrong, and the cause of the problems they are having. Maybe I
seem to be a pessimist, but I an showing you what I see. Peter started this
discussion with a post about schools banning Crocs, but the truth takes us much
deeper. I am American, born and raised, but I am coming to despise many of the
values of our social system, because they harm people. America was once a
barefoot culture, with heroes like Abe Lincoln and Johnny Appleseed. Sadly,
today America has turned to hating bare feet so bitterly that we think nothing
of harming people ho don't want shoes. We put our children in danger with
shoes, just to support ignorant bias and people's insatiable greed. Adults fail
to realize how they fuel the bullying epidemic, even as it claims our children
from us. All for what? Money? The American attitude is spreading like a cancer,
poisoning all that it touches. Sorry, but this country is not like the one I
grew up in anymore, and it seems to be getting worse!

Peter, sorry for hijacking your "Crocs in school" thread, but I really needed a
place to say what has been on my mind! I don't see irony here, I see greed and
selfish motives hidden behind lies and manipulation. As a pastor, I'm sure
you'll instantly recognize the relevance of 1 Timothy 6:10:  "For the love of
money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred
from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows"

Just as I do not embrace the shod life, I do not embrace materialism. I have
what I need to survive, and an occasion creature comfort, but nothing more. I
would rather sit barefoot in the forest watching animals, than have a big TV
and fancy stuff. It saddens me how we harm our children, and slowly destroy our
future to support the worst impulses of human nature. I know the SBL is about
barefoot living, but it is clear to me that feet aren't the real issue here,
Greed is!

Happy Barefooting,Tim

 --
Nature is a rich, loving, warm place for the feral child. This little boy is
one of the feral ones! Free within himself, he delights in the joys and the
love of runningbarefoot, learning from the touch of the earth on his feet, as
it massages hissoul. He is allowed to feel, to heal, and to be within."
   ~ from 'Home in a Tree' (poem).