Gandhi On Shoes

As one who has happily gone without shoes for over two and a half years now, I was delighted to stumble across the following quote by Gandhi:

The feet of those who wear boots and shoes grow dirty, and begin to exude a lot of stinking perspiration. So great is the stink that those who are sensitive to smells will hardly be able to stand by the side of one who is removing his shoes and socks. Our common names for the shoe speak of it as the “protector of feet” and the “enemy of the thorn”, showing that shoes should be worn only when we have to walk along a thorny path, or over very cold or hot ground, and that only the soles should be covered, and not the entire feet. And this purpose is served excellently well by the sandal. Some people who are accustomed to the use of shoes often suffer from headaches, or pain in the feet, or weakness of the body. Let them try the experiment of walking bare feet, and then they will at once find out the benefit of keeping the feet bare, and free from sweat by exposure to the air.
Mohandas K. Gandhi, Gandhi’s Health Guide (Crossing Press, 2000), 185-186, via Google Books

I found it refreshing to hear a non-Western perpective on the subject, since most of us Westerners refuse to question many of our long-held cultural customs.

For more of this sort of free thinking, you might try paying a visit to www.barefooters.org