Authenticity
In last week’s blog I told about a Saturn Sky automobile that had a Ferrari emblem on the hood and elsewhere. This week’s image was a photograph that was taken of the Saturn’s front wheel and tire. There is a Ferrari emblem on the wheel and a Ferrari sticker on the brake behind the wheel.
Someone who was not familiar with the Ferrari brand may have initially thought that the impersonating Saturn was the more expensive Italian sports car. But it wasn’t. And learning more about those two automobiles exposed the impostor for what it was.
This reminds me not to judge people by their appearance. I need to become more familiar with a person before I decide if they are genuine or not.
Often women, especially, are judged by their looks. Their appearance is judged by their make-up, or lack thereof, name brand clothing and accessories or hairstyle.
But is that fair? Is a woman who wears name brand clothing and accessories, keeps a neat hairstyle and sports perfect make-up really more genuine in their lives as a woman who rarely or never wears make-up, name brand clothing or stylish hairdos?
The argument has been made before that the well kept/made up woman is just practicing self care. She has a high enough opinion of herself to take the time, money and effort to make herself as presentable as possible. She also feels better about herself when she’s “sporting her Sunday best”, so to speak.
But what about that woman who never or rarely gets “made up”? Is it possible that she has just as high of an opinion of herself? Is it possible that there are other issues at play? Maybe she’s very chemically sensitive and her skin actually looks and feels better without make up. Maybe she doesn’t see the benefit in those brand names. Maybe she has more important financial priorities in her life than expensive clothing.
This week’s image of that Saturn Sky gave a clue to it’s impersonation. Looking closely at the image we can see that the Ferrari brand logo on the car’s brake is actually a sticker. The bottom edge of the sticker is wrinkled up and torn.
This image is a reminder to me that before I make any judgments about a person I need to become more familiar with them. Get to know them better. Their outside appearance may not reflect at all how genuine a person they may or may not be.
That’s a lesson that many of our parents tried to teach us as we were growing up and today’s image and blog post can nudge us to remember that lesson.
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