This past weekend I was in Ottawa for a conference. Ottawa is part of Canada. Canada is cold. And snowy. Especially in the winter time. Like the third weekend in January.<\/p>\n
Even if the instructions say: “dress warmly and bring boots” there will be variation in how people interpret “boots”. My roommate for example had mukluks: very warm, and very dry, as well as reflective of her culture. I had above the ankle hiking boots (they were seconds at Columbia earlier this winter when my 11-year-old daughter shockingly grew into and confiscated my wonderful Sorels). Because of a killer blister on my heel that just won’t get better I alternated boots outdoors with birks and socks indoors. <\/p>\n
Wondering where this is going?<\/p>\n
On Saturday it snowed. All day. The sidewalks were covered in snow. I walked back to the hotel with two other conference attendees, one of whom was wearing boots with spiked heels. She was completely immobilized by the weather. She couldn’t walk down the sidewalk because there were no grips on her boots. She couldn’t dig the heel in like an ice pick either. She tiptoed along in the snowbanks<\/em> because this was the only way she could keep from falling. She crawled along at a snail’s pace and people passed us on both sides. Laughing.<\/p>\n Eventually the man we were with took pity on her, and she clung to his arm the rest of the way back. We both chastised her for her ridiculous footwear. The walk back should have taken about 5 minutes but instead took nearly half an hour. <\/p>\n At one point the man asked me to take her other arm, after all, we were all getting tired of her dawdling, and I had on good sturdy boots. I wouldn’t though. She made the choice to wear the boots, fully aware that she was in Ottawa, fully aware that it was snowing that morning, and that it was likely to snow all day. She is from another Canadian city, not that far away, and is familiar with the weather conditions here. She chose<\/em> her impairment, and by assisting her I felt I would be enabling her choice, instead of letting her experience the consequences of the boots. (Why anyone would own such disabling footwear is a whole other matter…)<\/p>\n