The tale of my shoeless Tuesday.

Yesterday, I took part in a movement called One Day Without Shoes, sponsored by the shoe company TOMS. It's simple enough. Tramp around wherever you happen to live, shoeless. As a lover of all things different, I knew I had to take part.

I must admit, I had my doubts the night before. The forecast for April 5? Rain. And lots of it. After Googling "walking barefoot in the rain," I got scared. Things looked a little grim as the paranoia of getting athlete's foot or bacterial diseases took over.

The next morning, I was up early and ready to take on the world. As a last-minute precaution, I decided flip-flops wouldn't be a terrible addition to my book bag, just in case. Too bad I left them in Buffalo. My stomach, on the other hand, flip-flopped as I began walking barefoot down the hall of my dorm building. The only thing on my mind: "I'm really doing this."



Two, three, four steps outside. "This isn't so bad," I thought. As I continued on, pain shot through my feet as the warmth began draining from them. I hated it and immediately regretted the impromptu pedicure to jazz up my toenails. For the first time ever, I missed my calloused feet. Since yesterday's high was somewhere in the 30's, the cold was a shock to my system. I endured the most pain in my whole day in the first five minutes, making it harder to not give up. First lesson of the day: gravel is not my friend. Second lesson: watch out for worms.

As my feet burned from the cold of the ground mixing with my own body heat, I stopped. Taking a deep breath, I told myself "Suck it up and power through the pain. Don't stop now." And after that point, I kept on truckin'. I can honestly say I developed a much higher appreciation for smooth concrete.

On my way to my first class, my friend Nick cracked me up. "Lauren, where are your shoes?!?" were the only words from his mouth, but he was certainly not the first to ask. Throughout the day, at least 10 people asked or commented about my bare feet. Of course, with a question comes the spiel.

The main goal is to raise awareness that many, many people around the world do not have shoes...and it really sucks. By choosing not to wear shoes, TOMS hopes that questions are raised and more people join the effort. In addition to raising awareness, for every pair of TOMS bought, another is donated to a child in need. All in all, it's a fabulous cause.
For a more in-depth look at what TOMS does, go to www.onedaywithoutshoes.com.

By the end of the day, I took much more knowledge away from the experience than I expected to. Topics, however, ranged from common sense to in-depth critiques on society. First, the first minute of being inside with warm feet to going outside is a rough transition, but it gets easier. Second, the frightening realization of how shoes impact lives. Shoeless Americans, among others, have more restrictions from the get-go. In order to enter most establishments, you must be wearing shoes. Think no shirt, no shoes, no service. But what happens when someone honestly can't afford them? Widening the scope, shoeless children in many countries, such as Ethiopia, work in unsanitary conditions day in and day out. Sitting and thinking about that breaks my heart, but I feel better about kicking my shoes off for the day. Simply because one cannot see the problem doesn't mean it doesn't exist. My One Day Without Shoes brought that to light for me.