Bittersweet Socks

"Somali women beaten for violating Islamic law, officials say"
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/29/somalia.women.flogged/index.html

Alright I have to say, the original link that attracted me to this article was not the article's actual title. Instead, the link read "Women beaten for not wearing socks, officials say." Now this is a title for an article. Sadly enough, hearing about women violating Islamic law is not so out of the ordinary as to fully attract my attention, but women beating for not wearing socks? The absurdity of the title is shocking. Being myself a girl who happens to have a particular hatred of socks (for reasons I'm not sure of, don't question it), I saw the title and thought, well that's just not okay! Really, I never thought my ability to decide whether to wear or not wear socks was ever anything special. I don't like socks, thus, unless I'm feeling particularly chilly, I don't wear them. Simple enough. Unfortunately, this is just not so for these Islamic women. I must say, now every morning when I wake up, climb out of bed, and wiggle my blissfully naked toes, I'll remember those poor women and thank whatever fate it was that decided to let me have those precious bits of independence. How bittersweet.