Whether we like it or not, looks and appearance are things that are considered very important in our society. First impressions are based on how someone looks, and people often comment on the appearances of others. "That guy is so short!" "That girl has so many pimples; gross!" It is unfortunate that people make snap judgments of others based on how they look; often, they don't even know the people they are commenting on. It's time that we stop judging people based solely on their appearances and time that we start focusing more on people's personalities instead.

Judgments on how a person is shouldn't be controlled by how they look; these are things that are outside of the person's control (or would be difficult for one to change). People can't change their height, and things such as nose shape or face shape could only be changed with drastic measures such as plastic surgery. Acne can be difficult to control even with medication; people may have trouble losing or gaining weight. When it comes to things like body shape or condition of one's skin, it is easy for people to say that they "aren't trying to fix anything." In reality, you have no idea what they are doing. The overweight person may go to the gym everyday and work out. The person who is underweight may be trying to build muscle mass. The person with bad acne might be trying out different types of prescription medicine in order to see what works. Also, everyone is aware of their flaws. They know if they weigh too much or too little, have bad acne, or have crooked teeth. There is no need to point these things out to them. Unless it is something that a person can fix in an instant, such as food stuck in their teeth or lint in their hair, there is no need to mention it.

Making judgments behind people's backs is just as bad as saying it to their face. When you giggle with your friends over someone being "ugly" or "looking weird," you are just being rude. Everyone has different tastes; the person you are making fun of may be found incredibly attractive by others. I'm not saying that you have to think everyone is attractive; because everyone has different tastes, there will be plenty of people out there who you will not find to be pleasing looks wise. But this is no excuse to judge how they look or make fun of it. If you don't think someone looks good, just keep quiet about it. You may not think they look good, but you know nothing about their personality. They could be friendly, funny, caring, giving, intelligent. The level of attractiveness that someone has in your eyes has no correlation with their personality.

How someone looks on the outside doesn't determine their worth; it's what's on the inside that counts. Next time you hear others mocking the way someone looks, don't encourage it or laugh. Don't feel the need to chime in and make comments yourself. Instead, put a stop to it. We need to start judging people based on their kindness, their generosity, and their character and put an end to judging people based on their body shape and faces.