Please Remove Shoes Before Entering

WHEN I WAS ABOUT eight years old or so, there was much excitement in my family, because my cousin was back in town, after spending several years in the military, overseas. The modern day United States of America is one of the few countries in world history in which military service usually means service overseas. The ancient Roman Empire comes to mind, and Napoleonic France, and the British Empire, but not many. We all gathered at my grandmother's house, and my cousin showed up,the family celebrity. I noticed that he was wearing socks, but no shoes. My first thought was that the U.S. army simply didn't wear shoes, but that didn't seem to fit. Nobody seemed to know exactly why he was shoeless, until somebody noticed his shined black military issue sitting neatly on the front porch, next to the front door. Finally, one of the grown ups thought to ask him about this. It turned out that he had been stationed in Japan for three years, and had picked up the custom. This was in the early 1960s, when Japan was still a bad country, with a reputation for low quality merchandise and sneak attacks. The phrase "made in Japan" was a warning, rather than the harbinger of high quality it is today. I remember thinking what a strange custom it was, but also thinking it was rather cool. Now, fifty years later, the custom is coming to America. Apparently is is increasingly common for proud American homeowners to request guests remove shoes befor entering. Somehow, indoor shoelessness in America lacks the graceful spiritual overtones of the Japanese tradition, and has a more crass, materialistic feel to it, as in, do not soil my expensive carpet, under any circumstances. Wealthy Americasn with plush carpeting are requiring shoeless guests, but the trend has not yet filtered down to rental unit inhabitants. Gracious living, with class consciousness, American style!