In the latter days of this past summer I found a good set of boots at a super cheap price. They were the Desert Tan Hot Weather boots. The same ones our soldiers who are deployed in less than hospitable regions of the earth wear. At first I was just glad to have a good set of boots. I knew they would come in handy while working around the house and for hikes into the woods, too. When I was a young teenager I had a pair of Vietnam era Jungle boots. I hated them. They were uncomfortable and.... well, just plain uncomfortable.
Since these boots were new, they required a break in period. I started to become frustrated when the break in period extended past a week of "light" duty wear. Were these boots going to be just like my Jungle boots of old? Thankfully, they weren't. After a few more days of wear, the boots were broken in. Over a few months time, I began to prefer wearing them. The more I wore them, however, the more I thought about the men and women who pull the laces taunt everyday and walk out into the sands of hostile lands to face the enemy of the civilized world.
Over time, the boots began to become an extension of me. Chances are that nowadays if you run into me on the street, in the woods, at the park, in my classroom, I will be wearing my boots. And, in the same manner, the boots have come to represent more than just "trendy" footwear, more than an article of comfort. They have become a way that I can say, "Thank you!" to all those men and women who have to wear them. I'm letting my accoutrements make a statement- a statement that I'm not at all ashamed to make. Merle Haggard sang in "Okie from Muskogee" that it was a place where leather boots were "still in style for manly footwear" and I'll have to agree. These are timeless boots, ones that any man (or woman) should be proud have on their feet. I'll have these on for quite some time.
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