If someone really wanted to wear shoes badly couldn't they in this great usa we live in?

Question

Someone asked a question about someone going barefoot into a store and someone replied with "maybe they cannot afford shoes". Ok if someone was in fact severly poor but they did not want the inconvenience and embarassment of being barefoot wouldn't shoes be easy to attain provided they lived in the USA in a decent sized town? I am sure some good soul would help a little kid out with a pair of shoes or the school would. Basically what I am getting at is not being able to afford shoes is a poor excuse to be barefoot in public, it is more than likely their choice. What do you think?

Cannot speak for other countries, places like Ethiopia of course.

Answer 1

My answer is simple: It's silly to believe that someone cannot afford shoes. It's also sily to believe that people who go barefoot in public (like myself) are breaking some sort of health code, or behaving irresponsibly. I go barefoot most of the time, and I have NEVER injured my very healthy feet. http://www.barefooters.org

Answer 2

I think it's rare indeed for someone to go barefoot because of poverty; near my town there's even a thrift'store' where everything is completely free, open two days a week and run by volunteers. Some Salvation Army outlets may be nasty about it but I'm sure that anyone who wanted footwear could find it at a less corrupted SA store or at a church or any such place. I've been offered enough footwear even though I don't look needy at all from the ankle up. Most often when you see someone barefoot nowadays in Western society it is by choice indeed, it's more of an outdated bias.

It is NOT gross or dangerous to go barefoot; we're not spreading any more germs than when we touch things with our hands and we're far less likely to catch anything through the skin of our feet. Our skin is made to keep pathogens out, the dirt may be more visible but unless we put our feet on the table, poke the merchandise with our toes or lick our feet, the dirt will sit there harmlessly until we wash it off. With our hands we touch surfaces many other people touch and that are covered in germs too -door knobs, shopping carts, money, etc... it doesn't have to *look* dirty at all! Then we're far more likely to transfer those germs to our face and/or food where they can enter our body -or to the other merchandise.

Injuries are unlikely too; feet get very tough very quickly. I've been barefoot everywhere for over ten years, never divert my step no matter how much glass I see, and I get a tiny splinter maybe once a year. Never had a cut, never had even the slightest splinter indoors.

Foot fungus spreads only when you go barefoot briefly on a damp floor like in a locker room, shower, etc, or in an area with loads of barefoot traffic; it doesn't live long at all on a store floor. Also if you touched the place with your hands or feet and kept them bare, the spores would just dry up without getting a hold. It needs the dark, warm and slightly damp environment of a closed shoe to grow. This is also why habitual barefooters are the least likely to have it in the first place (of course if you see a stranger going barefoot you don't know if he's a habitual barefooter or just took off the sweaty sneakers he's been wearing all day... but as long as you don't take off your shoes, follow immediately in his footsteps, & put your own closed shoes back on, you'll be fine)

Fortunately the Health Department is better informed about any possible health risks, and in spite of persistent myths they have NO laws against barefooters in stores or restaurants, regardless of whether food is sold or not. Also, insurance companies don't require or even recommend footwear for customers. Nor is it against the law to drive barefoot.

Answer 3

I was in the Hazleton, PA Salvation Army some years ago in late September, when this teen aged boy walked in barefoot. Hazleton is high in the mountains of PA and it was cool out. He didn't have the $ for a pair of shoes and asked the people working there if they could PLEASE give him a pair of shoes. They looked at him and refused. He walked out barefoot. I stood there and witnessed the whole thing. I didn't have any extra $ or I would have bought him shoes. But I was a kid myself at the time and didn't have much more than he did. So much for the Salvation Army! I won't bother with that organization. When my inlaws house got severely smoke damaged they gave all the contents of the house to the Salvation Army, but when they needed a few things a few months later, to get started, the Salvation Army refused them. In MY opinion that group is greedy and corrupt. I knew a woman who worked at one of the SAlvation Army stores in PA and she had a flea market booth. She told me that she would go through all the jewelry & glassware ect and take all the good stuff worth $ and pay pennies for it so she could re-sell it at a profit. I know other ones who work there and they get first pick at the stuff.

Answer 4

There are agencies that will give someone in need a pair of shoes if needed. Of course, the individual would have to go and ASK for help.

Going barefoot in public (especially in stores or public buildings) is dangerous. Not only for the individual- who can walk on glass, nails, etc, but also for those working in the building--- fungus, etc. can be spread by not wearing appropriate foot coverings.

The Salvation Army is one agency that can provide decent footware. One just needs to ask.

Answer 5

It is their choice, because you can buy a pair of flip flops for a dollar and that seems to be an acceptable shoe choice in america.

Answer 6

Barefoot in public...yuck. They can buy shoes at Goodwill for 50 cents (seriously)...they can get them for free at a church clothing bank. Trust me, they can wear shoes if they want to. Maybe not stylish shoes, but shoes!