The invention of shoes

Many years ago, when poverty was prevalent everywhere, a king decided to make a long voyage on foot. Back then everyone walked in bare feet, so this king didn’t know what to expect for his trip. He had to walk on rocks, soil, pebbles, splinters and sand. The soles of his feet were butchered with sores, and yet he reached his destination, quite a few miles, in utter anguish and pain. In his frustration, he ordered that all the roads should be covered with leather, so that no one will ever have to suffer as much as he did. He ordered that they should use the skin of cows to cover the roads. Of course the farmers and ranchers were up in arms with the king, and it was no use for them explaining how many cows they had to kill to finish the job he had just ordered. Not to mention the loss of milk and meat and the livelihood of so many farmers and their families. Everyone was so upset with the king’s decision, but no one had the nerve to confront him about his proposal to kill so many hundreds of cows to cover the roads. One courageous farmer decided to go and speak to the king and propose an alternative suggestion. The humble farmer spoke up....’Your Highness, may I suggest something very practical instead of killing all these cows and starving all your people without milk and meat.....so I suggest that instead of covering all the roads, you cover with leather the soles of your feet, this way you don’t have to struggle walking on pebbles and thorns and rocks, and this way you won’t get hurt at all, but at the same time, we’ll save the lives of so many cows.‘ The king was delighted with this idea and thanked the farmer for his brilliant suggestion. And from that day on people fixed pieces of leathers and placed them under the soles of their feet, tying them with a string. And so, moccasins were invented, which eventually became shoes, for the warm days they used sandals and for the athletic ones, in our time, we have tennis shoes, which became sneakers. The moral for this story: don’t try to change the world, but start by changing yourself.