When you ask people about beauty, many will claim beauty comes from within because that is what everyone learns. In reality, people don’t even realize others judge you based on your looks; many might even make rude comments about you to their friends, especially in high school. The sad truth is that everything’s about popularity, cliques, and appearance. If you don’t have a pretty face, people won’t stick around long enough to witness your killer personality.

Beauty is comparable to a present. People judge what’s inside the box based on the wrapping paper, or the quality of the box it is in. Despite this, the outside of the box is not really an accurate depiction of the inside. There could be a golden ring wrapped in brown cardboard paper or a moldy shoe wrapped in pink silk. People think they would like the present wrapped in pink silk better, even though there’s just a moldy shoe inside. The same holds true when looking at more attractive people. In general, people who are good-looking on the outside are assumed to be that way on the inside.

The dictionary definition of beauty is “a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.” Even the dictionary  considers beauty to be skin deep.

When someone’s appearance changes, they’ll find that some who they considered to be true friends don’t stick around anymore. In the words of John Green, “Picking your friends based on what they look like is like picking your cereal based on what it looks like, not what it tastes like.” Often people get caught up with believing that the person they are is the person everyone believes them to be, even when that isn’t really who they are. When you lose that inner beauty, you become what you look like on the outside rather than who you really are.

Even in our school, people are labeled jocks, losers, populars, outcasts, and more. But what are they truly on the inside? Most people aren’t willing to stick around long enough to find out. It’s wrong. No one should have to change their appearance to become “popular.” People need to stop judging others based on their appearance.

Often if you put time into your appearance, peers who normally do not talk to you will begin to, mainly because packaging does matter. Peers judge us on how we dress even though we may have the total opposite personality. We live in a world where being beautiful seems better somehow. It shouldn’t be, but it is.

It is therefore important for all people to remember who they are on the inside. That is where the real personality of a person comes from. Once we lose that, we become someone else.