Looks can be deceiving

Taken from reinedemars' post on 9GAG

Yep! Believe it or not, the above illustration was taken from 9GAG. The site is not all about gags you know.

How terribly true is this? We often judge people from how we see them and we rarely try to learn about the one inside. How many of us are guilty of saying "He's only 13...he knows nothing!" so that 'he' should not be blamed on any misconducts, even if it was his own doing; or perhaps "Eeuw! Look at that shabby looking guy! What a waste to the society," when in reality he was just an undercover agent on duty, dressing as the homeless and putting our safety before his own against the bad guys...okay, maybe not that convincing, but come on, don't deny this.

You are as guilty as I am.

Being a teacher, I always found myself guilty as charged. Judgmental and me cannot be separated. Every time the new semester starts I'll be seeing new faces thus many book covers are made available to be judged. 'This boy looks mischievous', 'this girl is so wannabe', 'boy, he's snobbish', and 'Oh my God! They hate me' are only a few thoughts that crossed my mind when I stood in front of a class for the first time.

Man, the looks on the kids' face made me feel like bolting away from the room. So what did I do? I put on my best poker face, garnished it with a smile from ear to ear and suggested "Okay everyone...the first thing I would like you to do in my class..." I adorned it with a pause to spice things up and finished with "...is to smile."

A smile is the best way to cover up your appearance, no matter how bad. It's infectious, true. It brightens the day, true. It lightens one's heart, also true. If your smile comes from the heart, then you'll see people start smiling back at you...not in a mocking way mind you. Don't grin though; a grin can be bad, just smile. Make it sincere.

It might prevent your English teacher from bolting away from your class.

On second thought, make it work only if your teacher appear to be a nice lady with a positive sense of humor.