Boots are better than shoes for all sorts of reasons. They are more sustainable. They last longer. They protect your feet from potential hazards better than shoes. The list goes on and on. However, real life anecdotes help drive the idea home better than just making a list. Here is a list of experiences that prove the point.

1) When you drop an 80-pound speaker on your foot, the steel-toed work boots you’re wearing protect your feet from being crushed. Meanwhile, your friend who only wore a pair of Converse All Stars now has a broken foot with beautiful purple toenails.

2) While riding his scooter, his single brake cable breaks and he is forced to press his thick lug-soled Vibram work boots against the pavement to stop. In a similar incident, his girlfriend wears shoes while she drives her moped. Unable to make her machine stop because her shoes weren’t suitable for the task at hand, she now sports a pretty scar on her hip that marks the spot where she became one with the asphalt. .

3) Being a short woman, less than five feet, in a bar sucks. Wearing a good pair of women’s western boots can give you a solid two-inch lift and stability not offered by a pair of stilettos. Plus, when the drunk guy next to you tries to balance his beer on your head, you have the option of kicking him in the pack without fear of a broken toe that an open-toed shoe would be vulnerable to.

4) Your friend falls off his skateboard and launches it at full speed towards you. He hits you in the ankle. You end up with just a little bruise because you have a nice pair of lacrosse work boots that wrap your ankle in thick leather. Good thing you didn’t wear sneakers because you probably had a broken ankle.

5) At a summer picnic with your girlfriend, you see what looks like a rounded pile of dog feces. Before he can react, the dark brown coiled object pounces at his feet, smacking his head against his boot. I examine further and find two small semi-punctures with scrap marks in the leather. Rattlesnakes can ruin picnics if you don’t watch where you walk and wear leather boots.

6) It rains about three inches in less than an hour in your neighborhood. The city’s drains begin to back up from the deluge and become clogged with debris. The streets are now inundated with two feet of standing water. Luckily you have a pair of Muck Boots that you deploy keeping your feet dry and protected from floating debris within the water. You unclog the nearest drain, which prevents water from almost entering your house. Your neighbor wears a pair of Nike shoes and gets a nasty cut on the top of his foot from a submerged palm leaf. You trudge along protected by thick rubber boots.

7) Try to recapture your youth and buy a pair of Converse All Star sneakers. These shoes proceed to do everything they can to murder your feet. Pain permeates your body with every step you take. You use that you don’t remember them hurting like this when you were in high school. You buy a simple-looking pair of Tony Lama cowboy boots. You put them on and they become the most comfortable shoe you’ve ever owned. You don’t take them off for two years. Your girlfriend is worried. You get a new girlfriend and give the Salvation Army All Stars. Boots Rule!

It doesn’t matter if your experience is out of the ordinary or not, boots do a better job of keeping your feet healthy. Do not complicate yourself with footwear and stay upright and walk with good boots.