It was about one year after my wife and I had opened our first store, that I had an opportunity to assist someone in closing down their store and going out of business. No, we hadn’t caused it, in fact our store was located in what is now Santa Clarita and their store was in Marina Del Rey, almost thirty miles apart. I was to help them ‘close down the store’ by displaying the inventory more properly, and design and print the ‘going out of business’ banners, brochures and other advertising media.
During a lull in the preparations I decided to take a break and sit outside and absorb some of the ocean breeze. A moment later I heard, and then saw, a young woman walking towards me. She was crying. Nosey me, I asked her why someone would be crying on such a beautiful day. At first she tried to ignore me and walk past, but I persisted. This is what she eventually told me.
She lived in New York, her boss was becoming unbearable to work with, the weather was awful, and her landlord was about to raise her rent. Because of these pressures, she decided to get-away to California for a one week vacation, and stay in a hotel on the sunny beach. She needed to get away or have a nervous breakdown. Additionally, her plane was late in leaving, and because of mechanical problems, they had to detour to another city causing another delay. She finally arrived at Los Angeles Airport only to discover her luggage was lost. She took a taxi, albeit without her luggage, to the hotel and then found out the hotel didn’t have a room available in spite of her confirmation. Not was she only crying, she was determined to ‘end it all’. She was walking to the beach to drown herself. I tried to talk her out of it, but to no avail.
She convinced me the situation was serious enough for me to call the police to stop her, but because the store was going out of business the telephones had been disconnected, and in those days we didn’t have cell phones. As she turned and started away I called out to her once more but she ignored me so I ran after her and she finally stopped. I asked that she do me one favor before she plunges into the ocean blue. "Why?" she asked. "Because", I answered.
I asked that once she got to the sand she was to take her shoes off. She just nodded. Then I continued. "And your panty hose." She just looked at me as if I was a kook. I asked her to promise me that she would. Again she nodded and continued on her way. What I did, or tried to do next, doesn’t matter, although I was expecting to hear the sound of police and ambulance sirens.
Four hours later she walked back into my store, all smiles. It was obvious she had not gone ahead with her suicidal intentions. She told me she did what I had asked, even though she thought my request was rather stupid. After removing her panty hose, she started for the water, but before she reached it, she became more calm and relaxed. By the time she reached the water she only waded in it and after a while went back to the hotel where her luggage and room awaited her. She went on to enjoy a wonderful and relaxing vacation and a week later bid me farewell.
It is amazing what Nature can do for us therapeutically, if we only gave it a chance. Many times since this story happened, my wife and I encouraged many depressed people to remove their shoes, socks, panty hose, or whatever they might have on their feet, and take a walk in wet grass. By removing these articles of clothing one’s bare feet were touching this wonderful earth of ours. Someone said that this practice grounds out the negatives in our body. Sounds good.
If you find yourself, or someone you know, in a stressful situation, consider taking a walk in the wet grass, listen to the crashing of ocean waves, birds singing, the wind through the leaves, or watching fish in an aquarium. Someday a doctor might just recommend to his stressed-out patient, "Take two walks barefoot in the wet grass, and call me in the morning."
