Trend of naked feet seems pervasive throughout society

Feet. They’re everywhere, since most of us, if we are fortunate, have two of them.

Feet come in all shapes and sizes, many of which shouldn’t be displayed as one of one’s better features, except perhaps, in an intimate moment with a willing significant other. Of which I definitely don’t want to hear the details.

Perhaps I wasn’t paying attention, or perhaps the trend has tip-toed up on me, but, despite the fact that most people’s feet are far from their most attractive feature, baring it all when it comes to feet is definitely in. We are now a barefoot nation.
Naked feet, no matter how unattractive, now seem to be officially acceptable in just about every circumstance, even on what used to be formal occasions.

I just attended Lafayette College’s graduation. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a graduation. I have to admit, I was kind of shocked at how certain things have changed. I might just end up sounding like an old fogey for saying this, but I’m going to risk it.

Not one young lady that I could see chose to wear stockings for the momentous event, despite the fact that it was a bit nippy outside. Proper shoes were a distinct minority among a sea of naked toes.

In fact, a noticeable percentage of women graduated from college that day in flip-flops.

Okay, I understand the college mentality and the ever more casual dress trends of youth. But, I’ve got to ask, “Your parents and/or you have spent upward of $75,000 on a college education that you’ve presumably slaved to achieve for four long years and you honor the occasion of your commencement ceremony in front of thousands of people in a pair of $5 plastic flip-flops?”

Interestingly enough, the guys didn’t have this problem. They did good. Nice pants, jackets, ties, good shoes all around. They looked great.

So I figure the foot fetish must be limited to female toes, at least for now.

The young lady I saw who graduated completely barefoot, I am assuming, had some specific reason for doing so, and, for that I applaud her. But to all the other young ladies whose feet were completely naked save for the cheap thong between your toes, I’ve got to say, “Your feet are pretty far from attractive.” Particularly when a lot of those supposed-to-be-adorable toes were dirty or had obviously old or chipped polish on the nails.

Youth isn’t the only group that seems to have a public foot fetish these days, either.

Around Easter, I read that it’s a growing trend for some churches to include foot washing as part of their services. Priests washed the feet of parishioners. Parishioners washed each other’s feet. Sometimes, church members washed the feet of the homeless.

While that sounds nice, I suppose, and I’m sure it’s meaningful for the participants, I had to wonder about this and laugh a bit, too. If you were destitute, wouldn’t someone eagerly wanting wash your feet, no matter how symbolic and sincere a gesture it might be, be a bit surreal? Wouldn’t offering the homeless a hot shower and perhaps a clean towel be a bit more helpful, not to mention practical? I had to wonder what Jesus would think of this. Personally, I think he’d be advocating something along the hot shower and towel idea, perhaps taking it a bit farther and suggesting viable housing and employment solutions, but that’s just me. I’m not being realistic here, I know.

I still find it strange how a ritual of practicality from Biblical times is coming to be revived. Who thought of this? I know the bit about Jesus washing the feet of others, but if he were here now, do you really think washing feet would be that high on his priority list? (Well, maybe it would, if He’d seen the feet I saw Saturday afternoon.)

So the trend must again have to do with this reasonably new fad of feet. Seems even the religiously minded can be swept up in popular trend, even if the focus is on finding a closer relationship with God through the clean feet of others.

Maybe it’s just me. I know bare feet are comfortable. I lose my shoes and liberate my toes within seconds of returning home from work nearly everyday. Barefoot is healthy. It’s just not elegant for special occasions.

And, when for a large portion of our history shoes have more or less been a privilege, I can’t totally understand why those affluent to own many pairs are shunning them so vehemently.

But not to worry, since all fads eventually swing the other way. I can see it now, in twenty years or so: another news editor writing how the new trend is, shockingly, for youth to wear shoes, proper ones like their grandparents did. And how it’s creating an uproar, because it’s getting in the way of the foot washing in church.

(Originally published in The Easton News, May 25, 2006)