First Impressions
Shakespeare, in his eloquent, archaic English play "Merchant of Venice" waxes lyrical:
"So may the outward shows be least themselves, the world is still decieved by ornament"
Translation: What you see on the outside may be an absolute lie, but despite this knowledge people are still lured by outside appearances and therein first impressions.

Even if you are the least bit interested in literature, you CANNOT deny the fact. How many of us can admit without a hint of deception that we have not been drawn to attractive people?People who look right, dress right and umm...smell right:P. Its a universal trait...the world IS attracted to dandies and darlings...

According to scientific research, people form their first impressions within the first few seconds of a meeting. Thus its not surprising that first impressions are based 50% on the visual appeal of the other person and 25% each on the content and tone of communication that passes. Afterall, how much noteworthy communication can take place in such a short span of time. This fact can be well applied to the job market, where looking right for the interview is often considered just as important as anything else.

Research has also shown that people who seem to have the right effect on others, i.e. get people to develop positive first impressions of them tend to have better self esteem. Quite the reverse effect takes place for those who consistently fail at doing so.

So...feeling LOW..? Because you happen to be those not successful with the first impression jargon? One not counted among the uhmm beautiful people. Don't despair coz making a positive first impression has little correlation to how successful you get in life. Not every beauty queen is a social success and Socrates afterall was the ugliest man in Rome.

Thus FIRST IMPRESSIONS really don't hold that much water. In a study, a group of couples were asked about how they fell in love. Hardly any of them said it was love at first sight...i.e. a product of first impressions. Most of them credited it to a couple of meetings over coffee:) So if you're worrying that prince charming will never come around since you would not catch his eye...fret not (reverse for the guys...princess charming..hehe)

In a two decade long lifetime I find, things that and people who look oh-so-cute upon a glance are often not that worth-it. Being attracted to something or someone is all together different from true appreciation and respect. My school days are replete with stories of first impressions that I or my friends had about a certain someone and what it generated: sometimes a never-meant-to-be crush and sometimes malicious gossip about a not-so-bad person.

All of us I suppose have been subjected to and have subjected others to the limitations of first impressions. But wisdom pleads that we should not refrain our judgement of others to this. People are not merely a product of how they appear or worse still, how they are spoken about. If we don't correct this we would find ourselves missing out on quite a bit.period.

To conclude, yet again with the verses from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice:
"All that glisters is not gold, often have you heard that told, many a man-his life hath sold, but my outside to behold, guilded tombs do worms enfold.."
Translation: All that glitters is not gold, you may have heard that many times. But men rarely follow this saying, selling their lives to falseful first impressions: things that look pretty from outside are not always the same from inside. However beautiful a tomb maybe it still possesses rot and worms.