Barefoot Girl "Transformers"The fuzzy lines between the different forms of barefoot girl are due as much to the passage of time as they are to of the nuances of the female psyche. I am happy to say that, on more than one occasion, I have witnessed a girl's transformation from a Normal Barefoot Girl, or even a Non-Barefoot Girl, into an Occasional Barefoot Girl. I have never seen one transition to The Pure Form, but that may just be because I didn't observe long enough. In any case, even the transformation into Occasional Barefoot Girl is huge, and should be respected. Unfortunately, I am not sure what causes this phenomenon. It, like the behavior of the Occasional Barefoot Girl, seems totally unpredictable. And yet, I have seen a Non-Barefoot Girl transform into an Occasional Barefoot Girl without any active encouragement from me. Somehow, she just decided to start taking her shoes off, apparently liked it, and began to do it more and more. I think a lack of social rejection had something to do with it. Or perhaps she was getting active encouragement from some other source. But, whatever the reason, she did it! She made the transition from a Non-Barefoot Girl to a barefoot one, and that is fantastic! This is a fairly rare case, however. As much as I hate to say it, I have also seen the opposite effect. This is, in my experience, much more common. I have witnessed the tragic reversion of The Pure Form into a Non-Barefoot Girl. I was heartbroken. Why would anybody trade the freedom and joy of always going barefoot for a life of conformity, imprisonment and desensitization? I don't know. In this, however, there does seem to be a slight pattern. It appears to be somehow age related. In all of the cases where I have seen this, I have thought to myself that she "grew out" of her barefooted nature. It felt as if she considered going barefoot to be childish or immature, and that to properly transition into adulthood she had to start wearing shoes. It would be a totally ridiculous assumption, of course, and I don't have any concrete evidence that this is what she was thinking, but it is the only thing I can think of that might cause this. But let's not dwell on that, shall we? :-) Let us remember that many girls have actually learned to go barefoot in a country where it is often discouraged. Let us show those ladies how wonderful we think they are. Remember, as easily as society can make something unpopular, it can make it popular again. |