I was watching Modern Times, a very old Charlie Chaplin movie made during the depths of the Depression. The movie costars Paulette Goddard as an orphan living on the streets. She is barefoot throughout most of the movie. I am sure Chaplin thought that bare feet expressed what the poverty of the time was like. Shoes were expensive. Clothing, in general, was fairly expensive. Clothing was the way people exhibited their class… or lack of it.

This has been true since the dawn of complex civilization. Rulers and their inner circles would have the finest of garments. In some eras, the ruling class would compete with their peers by donning the most garish of outfits. In the early modern age, it became somewhat perverse with people forcing themselves into tortuous garments to exhibit proof that they were above the “beasts”. Children of the aristocracy would view a poor farmer’s barefoot child with envy of their freedom.

It’s strange to think now that the opposite is true. An executive at a place I once worked at remarked about how he spent several months in Belize. He said he didn’t wear shoes for two months. He wasn’t necessarily someone who would define himself as a barefooter. He just had the luxury of being able to afford to live somewhere so nice that shoes were not needed.

I think most people on this list would love to toss their shoes in the trash and be done with them. For most people, what prevents them from doing so is that they have to keep a job or do some work that requires them to wear shoes. Everyone has the “freedom” to simply go barefoot but, for most of us, the consequences would be a life similar to Paulette Goddard’s character… living on the streets and stealing food.

These days, I have been maintaining a day job and, weirdly enough, the same dynamic applies. Up in the offices the rules are different than they are for those down in the warehouse. I doubt anyone in the warehouse would likely want to work barefoot but they couldn’t in any event. Safety rules and such. Standing on the hard cement for entire shifts takes its toll on those workers no matter what they wear. I worked in a warehouse once (and I hope to never again). I developed plantar fasciitis. It went away when I left that job…

In the executive wing, things are a bit more flexible. The partners take off their shoes whenever they feel like it. Who is going to stop them? Oddly enough, I am also in that wing. I am not a partner or any such thing but I have skills that are highly valuable. The only thing I heard about my not wearing shoes is “I like your style!”

from one of the partners…

I am also still a musician, of course. Part of what makes being an “Artist” appealing is that you can be weird and people will forgive you for it. When I am performing someplace, I get cut a lot of slack about my bare feet. It is part of my creative persona. You get to break rules when you can do something that no one else can.

The same is true in many ways for people in IT. It is a complicated vocation that not everyone can be successful at. Talented IT people have been viewed as “wizards” and company’s are willing to let them… or better yet… encourage them to be as comfortable as they want. A few years back, I was contracted to work in the offices of a large online retailer. One of the development teams didn’t allow shoes in their “pod”. I am not sure what sort of rationale they gave for it but, because they were highly valuable, they got to work barefoot every day. For the company, this is a cheap and easy amenity. If people produce profits, what they wear doesn’t matter. Steve Jobs worked barefoot and mostly got away with it in a more uptight age because he made things happen.

Still, while young programmers got to pad around in bare feet, the orders that came in were fulfilled in bleak warehouses were the benefits and privileges were slim.

Shoes were required. Often, heavy with steel toes.

There is an old science fiction novel about a future where people have so tailored their environment (and themselves) that they didn’t wear clothes at all. It makes some sense. When I have heat and comfort, I don’t bother much with clothing. It causes a bit of a stir at the grocery store… for now anyway… so when I leave home I usually put on enough to prevent an unpleasant encounter with the local police.

Tiny steps…

In every age, humanity reveals itself a bit. I don’t think humans like wearing shoes. They do it because they need to protect themselves from a harsh environment or they do it because they feel like they’re supposed to or they don’t want to embarrass themselves… but they don’t do it because they want to… unless there is some stylish fetish involved… All clothing is probably the same… because it is cold or people are self conscious about their bodies… but I find most people relish in stripping down but lack the comfort… or the privilege… of being able to do so.

I haven’t been yelled at for some time. It’s a bit weird. A lot of times I get dragged along to someplace I had not expected to go with bare feet. “You just have to walk in like you know what you’re doing”. That was advice I was given at a dive hotel. The proprietor said I could get a discount at the restaurant across the street and I asked if they would let me dine there in bare feet since I had no shoes with me. It turned out fine. I was barefoot but I had money and they were happy for the money.

I think that is the last privilege. Courage. A lot of folks think a lot about “What will people think?”. They never think about what they think about someone who doesn’t care about what people think.

Some folks think most highly about the people who don’t care what people think…