Happy feet?

Anyone who hangs out with me for any length of time knows how much I love my hiking boots. I find them so comfortable that I wear them everywhere - literally. (Okay, I occasionally take them off to sleep or shower.)

A few people have seen the boots and assumed that I have some sort of disability which demands specialised footwear.

But the reason I wear them is simple: they're practical, they're bulletproof, and most of all, they're comfortable.

My present footwear is a pair of Mack Timberlites. I've worn them almost every day all day for the last 8 months. They're holding up nicely with only a little dab of Dubbin each fortnight or so.

But just when I was getting attached, I learn that the boots which are kind to my feet are in fact cruel to them as well.

Apparently, wearing shoes is about the worst thing we can do for our feet: Adam Sternbergh says so. Actually, Adam's only the journalist; it was Dr William A. Rossi who in a 1999 article dared to call the shoe "one carelessly designed instrument ... [which has] warped the pure anatomical form of human gait, obstructing its engineering efficiency, afflicting it with strains and stresses and denying it its natural grace of form and ease of movement head to foot."

Our feet are not merely 'lifeless blocks of flesh to hold us upright', but 'earthward antennae', feeding our brain information about the particular surface we're walking on. And shoes prevent that from happening properly, with their padding, raised heels, and sprung toes.

My brother-in-law knows this. He used to do everything barefoot - and he was a farm worker. Fencing, feeding pigs, picking cucumbers, welding, driving and riding; all things easily accomplished with those feet-like-leather. I thought the context demanded workboots; he just treated his bare feet as workboots, and soon enough, that's what they became.

I rarely go barefoot anyway; I don't like stuff sticking to my feet. Probably the only two places I would ever go barefoot by choice are in sand, and on cool grass. But the fact is, the human foot is engineered to operate quite happily without any adornment.

Could I go down that path with the same dedication of some others? I don't think so; I love my Timberlites too much, and I'm not sure how much my clients would appreciate it.

But the article has made me think: in how many places have we denied the obvious and provided a 'solution' which endures for thousands of years and is never questioned?