I don't mind reading walls of text. Why kind of mitigation costs $25000? This is something maybe I'm unaware of. (Also are there a lot of street fights where you live? I'm not sure I could handle that myself)
Yeah there's lots of street fights here. So one way of communicating it is I used to wear flip flops but after two aggressions (one of them rape extortion) I hate myself for having backed down on--strictly because I was wearing flip-flops--I never wore flip-flops again. I like running shoes, those are much better. Dude never wear uncomfortable shoes not even to meet the President of Russia. Suit yeah but with sneakers. Of course! Once you get whacked, you never go back!
I wear flip-flops often myself, but they're definitely not good for fighting or running, I can see that.