Feetwatchers

When I walk, I try not to look at my feet.

I used to watch my feet everywhere I went. I mean, in Canada, it’s sort of necessary. In the Winter you have snow and ice and puddles just frozen over, so where your feet go is kind of important if you don’t want to fall on your ass or wind up with soaking wet feet. In the Spring there are potholes in the strangest places so once again, wet feet and falling on your ass. In the Summer, dog poop. And in the Fall, wet leaves are very slippery.

But I was missing the world, and I didn’t even realize it. Until one day a good friend passed right by me without even seeing me. He just walked on past me with my hand raised in greeting, not fifteen feet away.

Because he was watching his feet.

After that I started looking around at the people as they walked by. A lot of them watched their feet. Now, this was in my University days, when we were all dead dog tired from long hours of study and long weekends of partying, and most of us had heavy backpacks. Just to keep our balance we’d have to lean forward, and the natural inclination subsequently led to our watching our feet. And we were missing the world.

I started watching the world soon after that. Long years of cautiously watching my feet were deeply ingrained, and as a result it was a hard habit to break. Even now, almost ten years later, whenever I’m tired I find myself staring down at my size twelves as they swing into and out of my field of vision. But when I see them, I force myself to straighten my back and lift my head and watch the sky or the trees or the people passing by.

It’s an effort, and no mistake. It’s hard to trust that your feet will know what to do without your direct supervision. But after a while I realized, facing the world let me see the possible pitfalls in my path a long ways away, and plan accordingly, instead of waiting for them to be directly in front of me, and being forced to react immediately.

And honestly, what’s the worse that can happen? Stubbed toes? You trip and fall? Slip on the ice and hurt your bum? I realize that it is possible to seriously injure oneself in such a fall, but that really is a worst case scenario. Why plan for the worst at the cost of seeing the whole world around you?

You see so much more than you might expect. The sky filled with light and clouds trimmed in silver and gold and pinks and purples. Some of the most gorgeous architecture, and some pretty awful stuff too. Trees in every shade of green, moving with a life of their own, the clearest view of wind. Smiling people. Unhappy people.

People staring at their feet.