Social experiment: walking a mile in someone else’s … socks?

I stepped down from my car onto the hard cement ground, wincing as a small pebble jabbed into the bottom of my foot. My fuzzy purple socks were warm, but still thin and could not protect me from the jagged ground. I suddenly regretted my decision to spend the day with no shoes on and cursed myself for being curious and wanting to try a “social experiment.”

Because I spend most of my time inside my house without shoes on, I decided that would not be hard to extend this idea to school. 

So wearing the thickest socks I could find to protect my feet, I arrived at school on Nov. 12. 

A few people gave me strange stares walking into school, but by the time they noticed my purple, fuzzy socks, I was already past them and safe from their judgments. I walked quickly past the students and tried not to look down at my feet. 

Walking to my first class, I stepped on something hard and sticky.  I lifted up my foot to find a black piece of gum sticking to my sock. Disgusted, I furiously scraped it off on the ground. After that, I found myself constantly looking down to avoid the small black spots of gum that litter the school’s hallways.  

Unsure whether wearing shoes was against school rules, I asked my first-period French teacher, Mrs. Bergkamp, if it would be OK if I didn’t wear shoes. She agreed, after I explained that it was for a story for newspaper and not a regular habit. 

As soon as I sat down, someone on the other side of the room said “I like your shoes,” prompting glares and laughter from the rest of the class as they looked at my feet. 

I received reactions ranging from “I like your shoes” to “Oh my god, what happened? Why aren’t you wearing shoes?” To these shocked reactions I returned various awkward answers, ranging from “I lost my shoes” to “I don’t like shoes.”

After the bell rang signaling the end of class, I walked quickly to my second-period class, avoiding others’ glances and attention. Knowing that we were doing a lab in Chemistry, I had packed a pair of emergency shoes, so I would not be breaking safety rules. My shoes were necessary, as we were dealing with chemicals.

At lunch, more people noticed my socks and gave me strange glances. Some just laughed when they saw my feet, but others stared until I found an explanation that made some sense. I decided that I would tell people that I forgot my shoes at home. My story was that I left the house quickly, with the expectation of finding my shoes inside the car. However, I realized too late that my shoes were not in the car, and I was forced to get out of the car shoe-less. 

When I told this story to students, they looked at me in disbelief, but I managed to convince them using my stellar acting skills. They ended up believing my story and laughing at my irresponsibility. 

Two people offered me their extra pairs of tennis shoes, and I struggled to find reasons to decline. I tried saying that it was not a big deal and that having no shoes was not all that bad and got a response of “Sweeya, stop. It’s not cool to not have shoes. Just wear mine.” I eventually told them that their shoes would not fit on my feet to stop their well-meaning and concerned offers. 

I was so pleased with my experience of not wearing shoes that I decided to keep it up on my 20-minute walk home. However, this proved to be a bad idea because by the time I got home, my feet were sore and hurt. The ground was rocky, and each step was like blunt needles piercing the sole of my foot.  

Despite my pained and red feet, I found that going shoeless for a day was amusing and unexpectedly fun. Although most people do not particularly notice shoes, I learned that it is still not socially acceptable to go without them.  

Maybe I’ll be the sockonoclast.