Non-Normative

I drew comments in Canada, Mexico, UK. Plenty of busybodies everywhere.

"amerika" is a cop out, a dropping of the task of delving deeper, of thinking more.

In many countries, only the very poor go without shoes.
Two generations ago in the USA, kids might roam barefoot all summer and after school hours until parents deemed it too cold. Shoes were expensive and precious, and saved for school and church since kids grow out of them so quickly.
And in the South, there were health repercussions in the form of hookworms.
Still can be, but getting them is harder.
Hookworms live in the small intestine and eggs pass in stools.
If someone deficates where others walk, the eggs can spread.
So, lets say you are strolling through a lovely park on your way to the town center.
At night, folks live in the park and poop just off walkways.
Guy with shoes jogs through. Dogs romp through, spreading eggs. Woman in shoes walking on her lunch break can bring those eggs onto sidewalks, floors, elevators, anywhere.
Then we have the fresh hell known as public bathrooms.
You could, conceiveably be in contact with those eggs, and this is the industrialized world view!

Think of farms with sewage sludge, or rural China and human manure spread on fields.

Hookworm, along with related parasites, was a powerful motivator to wear some covering on your feet...and, honestly, removing them in your home.