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

1) When you drop an eighty-pound speaker cabinet on your foot, the steel toed work boots you are wearing protect your feet from being crushed. Meanwhile your friend who was only wearing a pair of Converse All Stars now has a smashed foot with lovely purple toenails.

2) While cruising on your motor scooter your only brake cable snaps and you are forced to press your thick Vibram lug sole work boots to the pavement in order to stop. In a similar incident your girlfriend wears shoes while riding her moped. Unable to get her machine to stop because her shoes were inadequate to the task at hand, she now sports a nice scar on her hip marking the spot where she became one with the asphalt.

3) Being a short female, less than five feet, in a bar sucks. Wearing a nice pair of women's western boots can give you a solid two-inch lift and the stability that isn't offered by a pair of stiletto heels. Plus when the drunken guy next to you tries to balance his beer on your head you have the option to kick him in the package without fear of the toe breakage that an open toed shoe would be vulnerable to.

4) Your friend falls off his skateboard and sends it careening your way. It hits you in the ankle. You end up with only a small bruise because you have a nice pair of Lacrosse work boots on that cover your ankle with thick leather. Thank goodness you didn't wear tennis shoes because you'd probably have a fractured ankle.

5) Out on a summer picnic with your girlfriend you spy what looks like a rounded up pile of dog feces. Before you are able to react the dark brown-coiled object lunges at your feet and bangs its head against your boot. I further examination you find two tiny semi punctures with trailing scrap marks in the leather. Rattlesnakes can ruin picnics if you don't watch where you are walking and wear leather boots.

6) It rains roughly three inches in less than an hour in your neighborhood. The city drains begin to back up from the deluge and become choked with debris. The streets are now flooded with two feet of standing water. Luckily you have a pair of Muck boots which you deploy thereby keeping your feet dry and protected against the floating trash within the water. You unclog the nearest drain, which stops the water from almost entering your home. Your neighbor wears a pair of Nike shoes and gets a nasty gash on top of his foot from a submerged spiked palm frond. You trudge onward protected by thick rubber boots.

7) You try to recapture your youth and buy a pair of Converse All Star tennis shoes. These shoes proceed to do everything in their power to murder your feet. Pain permeates your body with each step you take. You swear you don't remember them hurting like this when you were in high school. You buy a pair of plain looking Tony Lama cowboy boots. You slip them on and they become the most comfortable footwear you have ever owned. You don't take them off for two years. Your girlfriend is concerned. You get a new girlfriend and give the All Stars to the Salvation Army. Boots rule!

No matter if your experience is out of the ordinary or not, boots just do a better job of keeping your feet in good health. Don't mess around with footwear and stay standing and walking by wearing good boots.