Sole Inquiry

Upon close inspection of the pattern of wear on an individual's shoe, or shoes plural, one can't help but recall many of life's great pleasures.

Foremost among these pleasures is the pleasure associated with smoothness at the inner edges of one's soles. This can point to an individual who walks sumptuously, reveling in the flattening of the arch. For those who never attempt to correct, or even recognize their issue, their pleasure is that of ignorance. An ache unsoiled by impetus for change.

For those afflicted who begin and abandon efforts to correct said issue, this flattening motion becomes akin to the settling of shoulders into a slouch. It evokes the smoothness of dark chocolate melting on the tongue, or the first scratch of an itch. It does become an itch scratched too long, in time.

Smoothness at the heels indicates a jaunt of sorts, where supple calves allow for a sharp strike of the heel against the ground before a subsequent roll to the toe. This individual takes pleasure in everything they do.

Smoothness at the toe, however, speaks to the repeated snuffing of cigarettes by grinding them into the ground. This comes with the pleasures of carelessness, kinship with anti-heroes and gangsters, and the self-righteous implication that one has bigger problems than the proper disposal of toxic waste (as if such a thing could exist).

So the next time you're lost in a crowded room where your friends have all deserted you, the music snags at your brain, the floor screams of the space you use, and the masses refuse your gaze, I invite you to drift to the door, squat down, and take a moment to consider the shoes. Careful dialogue might hold all the answers you're looking for.

Clara Hinds