Wisdom story: How to complicate a simple thing as buying a pair of shoes

In ancient times, there lived a very wise and educated elderly man who had a high regard for knowledge and people who read and wrote books. One day while on a walk, he noticed that his shoes were worn out. As he knew that he spent a lot of time on his feet he had to find the very best shoes to support and protect them. In his mind, this was no easy task and he didn’t want to complicate it more with picking the wrong shoes. Without proper protection, he would hurt his feet, and without the ability to use his feet he wouldn’t be able to go out and get new books to learn from.

The minute he returned home, he immediately surrounded himself with books of the wisest men he admired and began searching an answer to the question “What should a man do when his shoes have become tattered?” He leafed through the books for a long time before he found out that the only thing he could do was go and buy a new pair of shoes. But, there was a new problem now, where should he go to get them? 

Many nights the wise man read through the books before he found an answer to this second question. Afterward, he spent a lot of time learning how to know for sure that the shoes he will buy will fit his feet perfectly. He was satisfied with the answers and proud of himself. If he hadn’t read all these books, he would have probably gone barefoot until the day he died. Just as the books said, the wise man took a straw, measured his foot with it, and, pleased with his actions, went to the market. He went around a lot of shops until he found a pair of shoes that he liked. Unfortunately, the straw wasn’t in his pocket. So, he had to go back home. The shop was far from his home, so when the wise man came back with the straw, the shop had closed. To make matters worse, his shoes completely split up, and, since he didn’t have another pair, the next day he had to go to the market barefoot. But the shoes he picked the day before were now sold. The wise man explained his situation to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper was surprised and couldn’t help but ask “But why didn’t you buy the pair yesterday?”

The wise man answered “Because you see, I forgot the straw I used for measuring my foot back home. And as everyone who knows anything about shoes you have to know the right measurements of the shoes before you buy them. I didn’t want to complicate anything, but I was following instructions.” The shopkeeper looked even more confused, “But your foot was with you, wasn’t it? Why didn’t you just try the shoes?” Now the wise man became confused and responded, “Well, all the books say that shoes should always be bought by the measure you take from the ones you already have.” The shop owner laughed and replied “Oh, no my friend! To buy shoes, you don’t need advice from books or straws. You just need to have a pair of legs, some money and a little bit of common sense to not complicate things.”