Appearances are not everything

Appearances are not everything. I use the word "appearances" for a lack of a better word at the moment. Appearances do not always tell the true story. There may be times when you (or I or the person on the street) have control over your own personal appearance - the way you dress, the way your hair is combed (or styled if you can or are talented enough), etc. - but there are times you do not have control.

When you have control you have made your own choices to dress or be the way you want. You may or may not care what others think. You may or may not being trying to make a good impression. But you have the control and you have made your choices for better or worse.

When you do not have control very often it is because you do not have the resources - whether it be financial, opportunity, knowledge, or other.

We all, at one point or another, judge others. Sometimes we judge them to our own personal standards and sometimes to society's. We really should not be so quick to judge. First we need to look at ourselves (inside and out) then we need to think.

The same goes for other appearances. Neighbors can be very caring or very judgmental. One (or more) neighbor may have a perfect green and mowed lawn with a white picketed fence and freshly sided exterior while another may have gutters hanging (due to the weight of years of snow or heavy rains) and the lawn is brownish and not always mowed. But do we always know what is going on in the interior of those houses? No.

The neighbor with everything perfect may be a loving family who volunteers and goes on frequent family trips or may be the most dysfunctional family on the block. The neighbor with the hanging gutter may just be lazy and do not care about appearances or they may be going through some rough times - financially, healthwise or any combination.

Appearances are not everything.