As I was walking my dog the other morning, I noticed that the birds were singing. This is quite a change from the deathly silence of morning walks in January and February. Spring can’t be far away now. I do look forward to it so. But… with the coming of spring comes something else not so pleasant (besides slush and puddles). It wakes the sleeping CROC-odiles.

Yes, soon everyone will be breaking out their Crocs, those troublesome shoes made of… rubber? Plastic? I think Crocs started out as gardening shoes and have now taken the nation by storm as the footwear of choice for the lazy. I’ve heard all the arguments for them. Comfortable. Durable. Easy to slip on. Someone told me that they’re miraculous because your feet don’t sweat in them, as you might expect in a plastic-y shoe. Yeah. But still… Crocs!

How can you be anything but lazy when you’re wearing Crocs to a party or a restaurant? I guess what disturbs me most is how they spread like a virus. One suburban mom wore her Crocs to go to the movies and then, suddenly, Crocs were everywhere. The only person I know who got a pass for wearing Crocs is my sister when she was pregnant, because she couldn’t get her swollen feet into anything else. That’s Crocs serving a purpose. And if you’re actually gardening in your Crocs, or hanging outside doing something like, barbecuing, OK.

If you’re really into your Crocs, fine. So be it. But here’s a new option for all you Croc Lovers. You can recycle your Crocs through a program called Soles United. According to the website, it’s “the first-of-its-kind recycled footwear donation program. Give back your worn-out Crocs shoes to be recycled into new shoes and they will be donated to people in need around the world.”

It’s better than all those Crocs lying in landfills several hundred layers up from all those Jelly shoes we dumped in the 80s.