Shoes On, Shoes Off

Shoes On, Shoes Off

Now, say the title again with the voice of Mr. Miyagi, the karate master to his young disciple, Daniel LaRusso, the downtrodden and bullied boy.

Wax on, wax off.

Recall, where the training started?

The first of many training session consisted of washing and waxing the cars.

Clock-wise, wax-on.

Counterclockwise, wax-off.

If one can not recall this extraordinary cinematic event in the Karate Kid, or is too young to have ever heard about this important film, the refresh is below:

https://youtu.be/SMCsXl9SGgY

The seemly disconnected start of the karate training was significantly different from the constructed reality of the young grasshopper own mind of what karate training actually is.

Things are not what they seem.

Shoes on, shoes off.

One will notice after arriving in the Land Of The Rising Son, that more often than not, one must remove the shoes before entering a house and often in restaurants as well.

This was not the case growing up in the countryside of British Columbia where most of the time people wore their shoes in the house.

Recalling an very unfortunate incident where as a child the outside shoes were worn onto a friend’s mothers beautiful plush white carpet, after having failed to wipe off the doggie poo before entering their house.

I am truly very sorry for this Mrs. Henderson.

Indeed removing shoes before entering a dwelling makes perfect sense, why would one carry the impurities of the outside world to pollute one’s own inner sanctuary?

Here is the shoe secret:

Loosen the laces.

Crush down and flatten the heals of your beloved shoes under the boot-heal of the incessant shoes on, shoes off reality.

Perhaps the shoes on, shoes off protocol leads to subconscious and ingrained disciplines, like keeping one’s outside world separated from the inner sanctum of one’s private life, thus maintaining one's sanity.

And now here.

Mask on, mask off.

In the simple reality of going about one’s regular outside life, the mask protocol is just like every other Japanese winter flu season.

Except from now on it will extended throughout the year, to include all and has become the social norm in Japan without much further ado.

Moreover, the Japanese have already been socially conditioned to wear their metaphorical mask from an early age in order to co-exist in this ridged hierarchical society.

Perhaps the mundane tasks of life such as wax on, wax off, shoes on, shoes off, and now mask on, mask off, will lead to being mindfulness of one’s own life form, order and process, as one continues to fortify one’s own constitution and resolve in this new mask on, mask off world.

Bonus 1:
Now circle around to the beginning of this post and watch the masterful outcome of the wax off wax philosophy here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=27&v=Bg21M2zwG9Q&feature=youtu.be

Bonus 2:
Recommended footwear

 

 

 

 

 

Bonus 3:

Not recommended footwear

 

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