Risk vs. Reward: The Gloves are Off!

I cut my thumb yesterday. While putting a piece of equipment away at work, I wasn't paying close-enough attention to the location of all the digits on my left hand. I was passing a cord through an opening and slammed the tip of my thumb into the back of a metal keyboard tray rail.

Cut it right open. It wasn't too bad. Although it started bleeding almost immediately it wasn't gushing. Although the cut was apparent it wasn't terribly deep.

So today I have a bandage on it. In a few days it will be healed and I will go on living my regular life. Someday, I will likely accidentally cut my hand again. That's okay, though. That's life.

This weekend our family will be moving into our new house. It will be such a joyous day since we've never owned our own home before! For the move I'll likely wear some kind of gloves to protect myself from chafing from all the cardboard boxes and potentially sharp parts of our appliances. My gloves have rubber pads on them so that I can get a better grip on things. I realize that extra protection for my hands is appropriate. There's enough risk involved to warrant them.

I will also be wearing boots. I would prefer to go barefoot, sure. But I also realize that protective footwear does have a place in this situation. Boots will help protect my feet and give me better traction -- especially when hauling a 320 lb. refrigerator around! The risk of injury is high enough to warrant footwear.

I always find it interesting, though, when people try to make the point that our feet need constant protection. It's like the ground and floors of our world are so littered with sharp objects and disease that the risk of foot injuries is always high.

When talking with others about my barefoot lifestyle, I often hear an excuse that sounds something like, "I don't go barefoot because when I was a kid I cut my foot/stepped on a nail/got stung by a bee."

I think we need to reconsider the idea that our feet need constant protection. When I was a kid, I did step on a nail in my home. It punctured my foot pretty well. When I was a kid I also got stung on my sole by a bee while walking around at the local pool. It hurt like the Dickens. I could just say, "I don't ever want to go barefoot because I might get hurt again."

But couldn't I also say after just cutting my thumb, "I'm going to wear gloves all the time so my hands are protected?" If I did, many might think I have OCD. The risk just isn't strong enough to warrant such drastic measures. Yet somehow we see major risk to our feet in everyday life.

I can tell you from experience that restaurants, retailers, churches and many other publicly-accessible places have pretty clean floors. They are certainly safe enough to go barefoot. Likewise, your average parking lot, street or sidewalk is safe enough, too. I'm not saying that there is no risk whatsoever. I'm not saying there's no possibility of injury. All I'm trying to pass along is that going barefoot to these places holds as much risk to your feet as everyday life holds to your hands.

When we're done moving I will go back to baring my hands in my daily life. Likewise, I will continue living a barefoot lifestyle as much as feasible. Granted, there will be other times where even I will see enough risk of hand or foot injury that I'll don gloves or footwear again. But in general, I see no reason not to bare my hands and feet. Accidents may happen and injuries may occur. When they do I'll deal with them and move on. The overall risk is low compared to the rewards.

So next time you go to put on shoes -- or if you're wearing them right now -- ask yourself, "Do I really need to wear these, or would the reward of comfort and healthy feet be higher if I didn't?"