Frommy’s World

The foot is an interesting biological structure found on many animals used for locomotion. The structural quality of a foot varies from animal to animal. Comprised of bone, muscle, and other connective tissue, the foot is truly a complex work of nature. A foot consists of an ankle, heel, toes, and even a sole. Hands and feet have the same basic five-digit anatomy and make up half the bones in the body.

Unlike most animals, human beings use their feet and legs for bipedal locomotion, also known as walking upright. Many four legged animals like dogs and cats have soft or padded feet, these feet are commonly referred to as paws.

I affectionately refer to my wife’s feet as paws for this very reason. A paw is commonly defined as a soft foot of a four-legged animal that has claws or nails. My wife is not a quadruped nor does she have claws, but her feet are tremendously padded to the point that you can stick a pin almost half an inch through the balls of her feet before reaching any semblance of nerves. I also call her paws “Flintstone Feet”, as I’m sure my wife could power a Stone Age car.

The evolutionary process is a strange and misunderstood work of nature. It’s generally believed that humans have evolved further than their animal counterparts such as primates. I’m not sure my wife and kids have totally evolved. My children have been known to climb trees.

Yes, I know that many kids enjoy climbing up trees, but my children do this act barefoot. In fact, it is rare that my wife and kids ever put on a pair of shoes while at home. If asked to take out the garbage or go get the mail, you can be sure that my kids do this without footwear. Our street has been oiled and graveled throughout its years, yet that doesn’t stop my family from walking (or running for that matter) up and down it barefoot. Myself, on the other hand, can step on the smallest of pebble and feel the sharpness of pain shoot throughout my nervous system.

Being of Norwegian heritage, my ancestry isn’t one of shoeless people due to the cold climate. However we are known for putting our foot in mouth. My wife on the other hand is half Filipino, whose people are found in the tropics. The Philippines is a country in Southeastern Asia consisting of over seven thousand islands. Inhabited by Malays and various indigenous groups, the islands were first sighted by Magellan’s expedition in 1521 and were colonized by the Spanish after 1565. The Philippines gets its name from King Philip II of Spain who ruled during the sixteenth century.

Many rural peoples of Southeast Asia are known for their adaptability to what is for the most part a harsh environment. That is, an environment not as suitable to modern agricultural civilization. You will find many of the poor rural inhabitants of Southeast Asia climbing trees just like my kids…using their bare feet to grasp and push themselves up the trunk of a tree. My wife has been to the Philippines a few times in her life and plans on taking my oldest daughter there this summer for her graduation present. Although many Filipino’s can be found wearing sandals, my wife has told me that many people in the lowlands are quite comfortable barefoot. This is in part due to the economics of the region, but in many ways it is also due to the nature of these inhabitants living in the tropics.

It’s not like my wife and daughters don’t like shoes. On the contrary, there is not enough closet space for the hundreds upon hundreds of shoes purchased in my household. The irony is that I rarely see these shoes on their feet. According to feetforlife.org new research suggests that footwear first came into use up to 30,000 years ago. The invention of shoes reduced our need for strong, flexible toes to grip and balance. Archeological evidence shows toes of people changing about 30,000 years ago from strong flexible toes to the smaller weaker ones we have today.

Today going barefoot is uncommon both outdoors and in public places within industrialized countries and affluent societies where shoes are generally affordable. Being barefoot has its many negative connotations. For example, the phrase “barefoot and pregnant” is frequently used to negatively describe housewives who do not work outside the home. However, many people in developed countries still enjoy going barefoot. Besides my wife and kids, a friend of mine who played guitar and keyboards for my band in college use to go on stage barefoot. However, I also had a friend who wouldn’t be seen without shoes or socks on his feet.

Recreational bare footing is popular in the United States where you can find barefoot hiking groups who announce shoeless excursions on the Internet. In German-speaking countries, special barefoot parks have been established for going barefoot. There are also many barefoot sports such as martial arts, gymnastics, beach volleyball, and beach soccer. Olympic runner Zola Budd often ran barefoot in competition.

Many religions consider removing shoes a must when approaching holy places. Muslims are barefoot when attending services in a mosque. In the Hindu religion, the preference to go barefoot is due to the worship of holy animals and the ban on wearing leather products. Even Moses had to take off his shoes before approaching the burning bush in the biblical Exodus. Jesus advised his disiples to go out for preaching the Kingdom of God without taking along shoes — and Jesus is shown barefoot on most paintings.

Jesus was also known to have walked on water. According to feetforlife.org a chinese schoolgirl has recently got her feet wet in the world of science by inventing a pair of shoes that can walk on water. Wang Wenting, created aquatic footwear that allows the wearer to move across water effortlessly. She says she got her inspiration from watching ducks.

I always believed that larger feet could make a person swim faster having a pair of natural fins. Did you know that according to feetforlife.org the largest feet in the world belonged to Matthew McGrory who had size 29½ US shoes. I wonder if Mr. McGrory could swim fast. Speeking of swimming, McGrory is most famous for his role in Tim Burton’s movie “Big Fish” in which he played Karl, the sympathetic giant. McGrory was the world’s tallest actor at 7ft 6 ins. At birth he weighed 15lbs and was 2ft tall. McGrory recently died from natural causes at the age of 32.

In the United States there is widespread belief in the existence of laws against driving barefoot. However this is not true and has been debunked as an urban legend. My wife isn’t known to drive shoeless, but she is notorious for resting her feet on the dashboard when in the passenger seat. According to an article on the BBC news, traffic police have noticed an increasing trend for front seat passengers resting their feet on dashboards. Airbags deploy at 200mph and can cause serious injury such as broken ankles, possibly severed legs, and maybe even fatal injuries. My wife’s brother about had a cow when she put her feet up on his dashboard. This was not because of safety reasons, but because he has issues with cleanliness.

There are many who view feet in an opposite way…In other words, things of beauty. There are thousands of websites alone dedicated to foot fetishes. Foot fetishism is a sensual interest in human feet. It is also one of the most common fetishistic interests among humans.

Unlike myself, a foot fetishist likes viewing, handling, licking, tickling, sniffing, or kissing the feet and toes of another person, or by having another person doing the same to their own feet. Some people also enjoy being “trampled”, which is to say, being walked upon.

Feet also have their many troubles. There are a number of medical ailments that inconvenience the feet…I think my family tree passed on these ailments: Achilles Tendonitis, Arch/Pain Strain, Arthritis, Athletes Foot, Bunions, Calluses, Claw Toes, Corns, Diabetic Foot, Hammer Toes, Heel Fissures, Heel Pain, Heel Spurs, Ingrown toenails, Mallet Toes, Metatarsalgia, Mortons Neuroma, Mortons Toe, Neuropathy, Flat Feet, Overlapping Toes, Plantar Fasciitis, Post-Tib Tendonitis, Pregnancy, Sesamoiditis, Shin Splints, and Toenail Fungus. Foot.com provides a wealth of information on foot pain, foot health, foot injuries, and foot conditions shown above.

Scientists have recently linked bad breath and smelly feet as having a common cause. Curing chronic halitosis (bad breath) may also result in curing smelly feet. Wikipedia explains that in European countries, many physicians stick to natural healing traditions and recommend going barefoot as a measure against ailments and to improve resistance against cold and similar infections. In the Far East, reflexology, or the practice of stimulating points on the feet, hands, or ears (termed reflex zones), is used in the hopes that it will have a beneficial effect on some other parts of the body, or will improve general health. Many evidence for the health benefits of going barefoot has been collected on the page Parents for Barefoot Children.

I’d like to put my best foot forward and believe that my wife and kids are highly evolved. I wish I could run barefoot, jump from tree limb to tree limb, and participate in communal grooming. Okay, maybe not that last part.