It's what's inside that counts

By Kay Ramsdell Olson

Once I went to a dance with a very handsome boy. He wasn't a very good dancer, though. At one point there was a break in the dancing and we sat down, waiting for the music to start again. When it did, another boy came toward me, and I knew he was going to ask me to dance. But I didn't think he was handsome at all. I didn't think I wanted to dance with him. But he did ask me, and I was polite and said yes. Well, he was a terrific dancer! He even made me feel like a dancer. And he was fun to talk to. He had interesting things to say. I learned a big lesson. You can't tell what people are like by how they look on the outside. It's what is "inside" that counts.

How can we really know people? By the qualities they live in their life. Let me tell you what I learned about this. I was making the bed one day, and I was thinking. I was thinking about my children. I was thinking about each one and remembering some things they had done that made me sad. Most of them were pretty grown-up by now, but I was going over their old mistakes, wishing I had helped them do better somehow. (Most moms and dads want to help their children do the right thing.)