Inner beauty is and will always be a quality I’m drawn to.

I dealt with two opposite ends of a spectrum today and it re-enforced something I learned long ago but for some reason, today, it arrived in such a way that I couldn’t help but think about it.

We were busy and I was the only one available to help people at the cutting counter while our weekly freight was unloaded.  I could see there were several people lining up but I knew my two hands were only going to be able to help one person at time so I stayed as focused as possible and politely apologized to the customers that ended up waiting for several minutes.

One of those waiting was a tall, very striking woman with long dark hair.  Her makeup was perfect, her outfit was well planned and it was easy to tell she didn’t just throw something on before she arrived.  She was definitely “put together.”  I admire people that put a little extra time into their appearance as it is something I can relate to and trust me, she “looked” very nice.

Behind her were two young women.  One had her hair styled in such a way that she resembled a teddy bear.  She had a rather round face and two bear ears formed on the top but slightly off to each side of her head.  I’m not sure just what her plan was when she applied the black color to her eyebrows but for some reason, they didn’t seem to go with the teddy bear hair idea.  Her friend had bright red hair hanging in clumps around her very fair complexion.  Neither of them was as put together as the woman in front of them and I’m not so sure they weren’t wearing what some might call pajamas.

As I worked my way towards helping them I noticed something very interesting.  The beautiful, “put together” woman was rather uptight and a bit unfriendly and it was easy to see she was not going to engage in any small talk nor did she have any immediate plans of smiling.

When she walked away the teddy bear and the red bed head approached the counter.  I apologized for their rather lengthy wait and they both smiled and said, “We’ve worked retail.  We totally understand.  It was no big deal.”  We had a nice chat and when they left, they left with smiles on their faces thanking me for cutting their fabric.

Two thoughts evolved from this experience.

Outer beauty drastically changes when inner beauty isn’t shining from within and inner beauty drastically changes outer beauty when it’s given the chance to shine.

I find people so incredibly fascinating and I do my best to treat everyone the same.  At times I secretly gather facts from those assembled before me and try to remind myself not to judge any of those “books” by their covers.  They all have a place in my world.  Some are sent to challenge me, some are there to make me feel inadequate but the majority arrive with a smile on their face which tells me they brought their inner beauty and they’re ready to let it shine!