Q2: Doesn't it hurt?

This is almost a silly question. The obvious answer is no. We are not masochists. Again, walking barefoot feels good!

Occasionally, you do step on something uncomfortable and it especially hurts if it presses into the soft arch. But stepping on uncomfortable things is greatly reduced by doing one simple thing: Watch where you're going! You ordinarily do this to avoid walking into fire hydrants, deep puddles, etc., anyway.

But, despite watching where you're going, you will still step on something uncomfortable eventually. That's life and you just have to accept it. Do you know how many times I've injured my hands in my lifetime? (Getting fingers caught in doors, smashed by hammers, sliced by knives, burned, knuckles scraped, for example.) Nobody thinks, "This would not have happened if I wore gloves." You have to have the same mindset about your feet and not think that you ought to have worn shoes because you injured them. The injuries are few an far between and the intervening pleasure of going barefoot far outweighs them.

Why walk barefoot?

What about broken glass?