From birth, it seems humans have a natural disposition towards going barefoot. Yet, children are routinely told to put on their shoes, usually multiple times every day.
Though it is easy for a person to jump to the conclusion that parents are just silly and worry about everything, the reality is that they are on to something. They have realized that being barefoot can not only be gross and unsanitary, but also hazardous to one’s health.
“One Day Without Shoes” is an event that was started by TOMS Shoes in order to raise awareness and aid children who face health risks due to a lack of foot protection. On Tuesday, April 10, TOMS asks individuals to leave their shoes at home and experience the world without them. They want people to purposely attract attention to their toes in order to tell others about this major issue at hand.
Every day, hundreds of millions of people around the globe suffer from cuts, sores and all types of diseases acquired from simply being barefoot. Podoconiosis is a disease that is acquired from simply working in certain types of soil. Hookworm is another very common infection that leads to intestinal pain and weakness, and according to onedaywithoutshoes.com, it affects somewhere around 740 million people.
Both of these diseases could be almost completely eliminated simply by the use of shoes in at-risk areas.
The problems do not end there, though. Children living without shoes are often unable to attend school, while adults are not able to work because they do not meet required dress codes.
“They [the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department] would write you up for wearing the wrong socks,” Terry Holiday, former Stanislaus County sheriff, said. “If you showed up without shoes, they’d write you up first of all, then they’d send you home.”
In America, few health risks tend to present themselves to those who wish to run around barefoot. However, this is a privilege that many of the world’s children do not share.
“One Day Without Shoes” is a simple way we can remind ourselves and others that sometimes some of life’s most devastating problems have the most simple solutions. Yet, few problems can be solved when no one knows they exist.
For more information about “One Day Without Shoes,” visit onedaywithoutshoes.com.