Looking Past Marked Appearances

Appearances aren’t everything. Kristen Jones tells a story about an interaction that taught her to look past the physical attributes of others. I think a lot of times we have more in common with people than we realize, and it's a natural human tendency to look at somebody and generalize by what we see, she says. One day while Kristen was at work, a young girl came in. The girl had always worn long sleeves, and Kristen knew they were covering up the beautiful tattoos on her arms. Kristen inquired about her tattoos. A convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the girl talked about hiding her tattoos from those of her faith. As Kristen listened to her friend, she wondered what her friend’s first impression had been of her. Kristen imagined the girl might have seen her as a perfect suburban mother, which was far from her reality. Kristen and her friend agreed, Everybody has a past. ... Some of us wear it on the outside, some of us wear it on the inside, but our experiences are etched in all of us. Does Kristen’s story remind you of one of your own? Tell us about it in the comments below.