Does Beauty Impress?

If the whole world was blind how many people would you impress?
~Boonaa Mohammed~

Have you ever wondered what people really think of you?  I do all the time.  It's usually just a passing thought because in truth, the only ones whose opinions of me really matter are my own and God's.  I learned two things a very long time ago:  1) I'm the only one who has to live with the real, unseen, unheard, unknown me; the me who makes choices in my life and who acts on them; and 2) Only God is qualified to pass judgment on me and, truthfully, His is the only judgment that matters.


The world in which we live today has people believing that you only have value if you fit the mold of that which they consider worthy or beautiful.  How many of us walk past a homeless person on the street and look away because our opinion of them is such that they're not good enough to even be acknowledged?  If we knew their stories, we might find people who are not only worthy of our time but who can be (and probably have been) productive members of society if they just had someone to help them find their way.  Have you ever actually stopped and talked to a homeless person?


I feel sorry for those who only have time for attractive, wealthy people or people of "society".  How sad that so many of us can't see the heart of others and find the true beauty that lives within them.  How sad that so many who are deemed unattractive in their appearance, unworthy to have a friend, uninvited in our lives and undeserving of success could be so much more if they had only been given a chance, listened to or encouraged.


Many people today go to such extremes to achieve physical beauty and never learn what real beauty is.  They take pills, get injections and undergo surgery just to be whatever their perception of beauty might be.  Beauty is not what's on the outside, it's what shines out from the inside.  Joan Rivers once said "I wish I had a twin, so I could know what I'd look like without plastic surgery".  How sad is that?


The ugliest people in the world are sometimes those who have flawless beauty, enormous wealth and lofty social standings while the most beautiful of us are wearing tattered clothes, sleeping on the streets and going days without food.  We are all God's people (even those who don't believe in God).  We all have the same value regardless of our standing in life.  As you go through your day-by-day existences, think about how many times, while you were looking at others and making mental assessments of their worth, others may be making the same assessments about you.


A final note:  Remember that how we perceive another person oftentimes shows on our faces and in our actions.  Are your facial expressions and actions covering up your true beauty?