YOUR BEST FOOT
All my interesting life I have been admonished to “put my best foot forward”, if I really intended to amount to anything in whatever field of work I chose to make my very own. I was into the octo years of my existence before I found out I have a
“better”or “best foot”
So, now that I have found out it is indeed my “right” foot, I have formulated definite plans to make the most of that suggestion during my tenure of the packet of years called “the Nineties.” A great many men have had sillier plans including some of those who have thought they wanted to be President of the United States and who are now glad they did not get the job. Yes, you heard an audible sigh from them but it was a sigh of relief rather than one of disappointment
. I mention that because putting your best foot out there in the open can be an invitation to kinds of real trouble you'd rather not know about - so I won't tell you. Anticipation is coupled with finest finest foot-forward-ism. It happened to men who used the technique to sell vacuum cleaners door-to- door. As well as sellers of brain-builder books in multiple units, or velvet covered widgets each with a knitted-in kosher dill pickle in a deep. roomy pocket with a green zipper for quick access. Those valiant sales persons put their best foot in the doorway and - crunch!
Your future may be potentially a time of danger, but it is critical that you come to be aware of the essential need of such knowledge. It was most important in military drill during World War II when many draftees entered the service of the nation while unaware of any different between one foot and the other. Some never learned and all the way through our thirteen weeks of infantry basic training when drill ability was showcased for brass or visitors, it always happened that he was on KP duty at the mess hall. Last time I heard of him was in charge of drilling recruits.
In today's parlance around the work places it no longer refers directly to your feet. You are expected to wear shoes when being interviewed, of course. Along with your best bib and tucker, you are expected to wear a smile; to be generally affable and to refrain from crude manifestations of who you really might be underneath it all.
I am a one of twelve million or so citizens of these shores who has PVD. That's “Peripheral Vascular Disease”. Quite often, after major surgery, a person is told he or she has_an .. “.opathy” which is medico-shorthand talk for nerve related “leg trouble. Over the years, I have come to feel that anything ending in “it is” means it itches, tickles, feels red or needs scratching. If the main, control portion of the big part of the word has “scope”it means “we're goin' in there and take a look at this thing!” Anything ending with ”ectomy” means “take it out. The original term “...opathy”- often combined with “neuro” to pin it down a bit - suggests “the works”,”the whole kit and caboodle”, and I have also concluded it can mean “we don't know exactly what's wrong, but hang in there!”
There may be a comforting P. S. appended, too: “If we find out anything, we'll let you know about it.”
So keep your best foot forward – that's the one on that side – right?
A.L.M. November 21, 2004 [c598wds]
