Heading into town today, I forgot about putting some shoes on. Normally I am always walking around in shoes, but today my flip-flops failed me and fell apart. It was on the bus that I realised my dilemma, and by then it was too late.
As I started walking about the city, I felt very conspicuous, and it seemed that many people were staring at me, although I could not prove it.
Then, while I was in one of the stores waiting to be served, a little girl walked up to me and stood there staring. She was not staring at me, but rather at my bare feet. Then she suddenly turned around and ran over to the security guard and asked him, "Have you seen that barefoot man?"
I felt very conspicuous at that moment, and was glad when I could leave that place. As I continued around the city, the pressure got to me. Whether it came from inside of me and my expectations of myself, or whether it was an unseen pressure from this society in which I live, I do not know. But I went into the very next shop and bought myself some footware.
Now I feel a lot more comfortable as I walk around in my $5 peso kung-fu shoes.