A Pig is a Pig, No Matter How Well-Dressed

"Never judge a book by its cover." That's what I was taught at a young age. I understood it then, and I still follow the value of what that sentence communicates. How things appear on the outside may or may not have any relationship to what they are on the inside.

It sure seems as if we've completely lost touch with that reality over the last twenty or thirty years. I think I'm on solid ground to say we live in a world where appearance is the most important thing to most people. From Trump's gold everything to the glossy pouty lips of every YouTube chick, the look reigns supreme.

It's not as if this is new. From the earliest times, wherever two or three anything were gathered together, those two or three were comparing how they looked to how the others looked.

As tribes grew and hierarchies were born within them, garments and adornments distinguished lower ranking members from higher ranking ones. As power became consolidated and those with power learned how to use it to their advantage, the importance of those class distinctions was understood and became a protected and promulgated concept.

Humans were not the first to value appearance. It's a well-documented fact that much of nature uses appearance as a determining factor in females selecting mates. The working hypothesis is if he looks good, he is likely healthy, and therefore improves the gene pool. Birds don't think about such things, obviously. It's just another line of code written in the DNA of all things that have survived to reproduce. The code reproduces itself in the successfully reproduced.

We humans take it to the extreme. We, each in his or her own cultural milieu, do whatever it takes to match our appearance to our understanding of the expectations of those we wish to emulate or impress. We add hair by any method available. We shave, pluck and burn off hair. We poke sharp, inked metal into our skin. We apply special paints and pigments. We cut ourselves to promote scarring. We endure cuts to reduce the appearance of scars. We remove body parts. We add body parts. All in an effort to look like what we want to be.

In the end, all of it is only an advertisement of how we want to be perceived. It may or may not have any bearing on what or who we really are. What we wear is much like what we say: proven real or false by what we do.

"What you do speaks so loudly I can't hear what you say." That's another teaching I absorbed in my early years. What you do unmistakably tells your story. What you are wearing is just window dressing. A dress on a pig.

When we look back on these days, we will judge the value of people by what they did, not how they looked. Not by the opulence of their living quarters. Beautiful people do horrible things. The ugliest among us do many beautiful things.

The end of us all cares nothing about appearance. Beautiful people die just like everyone else. The self-centered are forgotten. The generous are remembered and missed. How they looked and how they dressed is forgotten. What they did lives on.

Do good, do right. Have a caring heart and giving hands. Treat those around you with grace and respect. Protect those who need your protection. Do not hesitate to stand against those who declare themselves enemies by their deeds. At the same time, show mercy to those who are no longer a threat. Be the better person, the stronger person. Acknowledge what is real, even when that reality is undesirable and unwanted.

"You can put a dress on a pig, but in the end, it's still a pig." That's another concept I comprehended in my younger days. Don't try to hide reality under ridiculous coverings. Embrace what is real. It's just the easier, more honest, more workable way to live.

Real is a thing that works. And dresses look better on girls. Just sayin'.