20 August 2011

Appearances ARE Everything

Talking to a friend who is fairly recently from Africa, we were chatting about a few things. She gave me a few phrases that I thought were good and interesting and...not following the "politically correct" movement.
One was, "I know who you are by what you wear." I think this is basically true, too. I have to add that people tend to apply this (in their minds because no one would EVER dare own up to it) to other items as well. For instance, since we drive a Merc, I've noticed a lot of difference in the way people talk about what I drive and how they approach me. Actually, in a very specific instance, people approach me ALL THE TIME asking for monetary assistance now that I drive this vehicle. They don't realize that it was a reduction in cost, so they just assume from appearances. I can say this because when I drove my minivan, no one EVER approached me in a parking lot for assistance. Go figure. This is why I say it is "basically" true because we don't really ever know how much a person paid for an item.
For another instance, my daughter was wearing a dress one Sunday and a comment was made about how much money her parents spent on the Osh-Kosh dress (which, I was surprised that the dress was that easily identifiable). What this person didn't know was, she was speaking to the mother who DIDN'T pay a lot for the dress because it was purchased at a yard sale for $1.
My punch line here is thus: be careful HOW you judge people on appearances...you just might be surprised at the information that isn't so easily seen.

2 comments:

The Roes said...

That is so very true! Appearances are not everything, but I do believe that you can tell a lot about people by what they wear. Maybe you didn't spend a lot of money on that dress...or car, but you were able to purchase something of value for not very much money because the previous owner took care of said item. In turn, you will too. I think people tend not to take care of lesser quality items. So maybe the message isn't that you purchase expensive things, you take care of what you have. That can be name brand or not.
missym - the way I feel lately, I'm 'missym' my mind!

Boyd Box said...

Lol to your last comment. Yeah, I'm glad you totally get that concept. You don't have to spend a lot to get quality, you just usually can't find it "brand new", but you often can find in "like new" condition for a steal of a deal. Emily asked me yesterday about why I keep the car and house so clean and I explained that to her. She's all about cleaning and "decorating" by organizing things. I hope I'm setting a good example for her but also spending enough quality time with my kids outside of cleaning/organizing efforts.