Is true beauty on the inside or the outside?

We've all experienced meeting a strikingly attractive person and feeling a desire to become better acquainted. However, as we get to know the individual better, we become disappointed, and we learn one of life's great lessons: outer beauty often masks inner qualities which are not at all pleasing.

First impressions are important, but they don't always tell the whole story. Extraordinary good looks usually take much time and effort to achieve. Outer beauty may be an unfortunate indication that the individual so perceived is self-absorbed and narcissistic, that their entire attention is focused on the appearance, the desires and the happiness of one person: themselves.

Consider for a moment some of the popular young Hollywood stars. Judging from appearances, they seem to have everything, wealth, attractiveness, attention, and some even have talent. Yet from the tragic circumstances that surround their personal lives, it's easy to infer that their personalities are not at all beautiful. There are frequent and bitter break-ups with mates, custody battles, addictions, wild parties, arrests, and yo-yo visits to rehab centres. Most of these episodes would be non-existent in the lives of persons whose personalities radiated inner beauty.

In contrast, think of some of the outstanding figures whom most people agree are truly beautiful.

Mother Teresa springs to mind. Physically, she resembled a wrinkled old prune, wrapped in the shapeless blue and white habit of the Sisters of Charity. For over forty years she tended the sick and dying on the filthy streets of Calcutta, India. Malcolm Muggeridge immortalized her in a book, "Something Beautiful for God". In 1979, she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work. Her inner beauty eclipsed the physical reality which the cameras recorded.

Mahatma Ghandhi of India (1869-1948) was another beautiful person, not in the usual sense of the word, but he possessed a great and noble character. He used non-violence and civil disobedience to win India's independence from Great Britain. One of his well-known quotes was " An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind..." An advocate of simple living, Ghandhi was a vegetarian and he made his own clothes. A film of his life was made in 1982 and won eight Academy Awards.

If asked to name the most beautiful person they know, physical attractiveness would be low on most people's lists of qualifying criteria. They will choose the kindest, most unselfish and loving person in their lives, someone who has influenced them in a positive way. That is as it should be.

External beauty blooms with youth but relentlessly fades as time passes. Interior beauty can be present at any age and its admirers will only increase in number as time goes by. It seems foolish and short-sighted to prefer the former over the latter.