By K.S.

January, 2, 2021

THE UNIVERSAL APPEAL OF GOING BAREFOOT

A few days ago I was listening to a Chuck Swindoll broadcast. At one point Chuck was quoting a man named Bob Benson as he talked about their family home and how eventually, when the kids are all moved out, it would be just him and his wife. “The house would be far from empty, though.” Bob said. “Every corner, every room, every nick in the coffee table would be crowded with memories of picnics, parties, Christmases, bedside vigils, summers, fires, winters…”

And then he added something very interesting to his list of fond family memories at their  home…”going barefoot”. He continued with “leaving for vacations, cats, conversations,” and so on. But that “going barefoot” caught my attention. How did that activity make such a special list of precious memories? In a way it seemed almost out of place with everything else he mentioned. But it really says something that going barefoot ranks up there with all those cherished thoughts.

I have said here before that we know more about shoddies’ feet than they do. I have also stated my belief that inside everyone is a barefoot child screaming to get out. Mr Benson’s lament, I thought, just played right into a truth that we barefooters all know…that the feeling of going barefoot is one of the greatest experiences known to man and has universal appeal, at some point, for just about everyone. Too bad that it is only a memory for so many. Granted, for all of us in this group it is commonplace, not a special privilege. But it never gets old, does it?