Keeping up Appearances

Keeping Up Appearances was a hugely popular 1990s BBC sitcom. It was centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket (who insisted that her surname was pronounced Bouquet!) Hyacinth's obsession in life was to present herself as a lady of refinement, who belonged quite clearly in the upper echelons of society. She desperately and continually looked for opportunities to climb the social ladder, despite being wedged in a working-class reality. Her attempts were regularly thwarted, not least by members of her own family who did not share her grand designs!

Last Saturday a few of us were involved in the Healing on the Streets ministry outside Priory in Doncaster's town centre. It happened to be the final day of the Doncaster St Leger festival. During our time outside Priory on Saturday morning, quite a number of people passed by who were obviously heading for their big day out at the races. Everyone seemed to have dressed up for the occasion; the women, especially, were resplendent in their outfits. The most noticeable element of their garb, however, was the massively tall high heels worn by some of the ladies. I do wonder how some of them managed to walk without doing themselves serious damage!

Why would someone wear shoes which were so obviously uncomfortable? I was talking this week with a friend who said that in her younger days her dad continually warned her about the dangers of high heels. She ignored his advice, and is now paying the price. Of course, it's all about appearances, something which our society seems to have become obsessed with. People spend small fortunes on trying to make themselves look good, not least through cosmetic surgery.

The reality is, of course, that the outward appearance of a person will never reveal who they really are. In the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, God says to the prophet Samuel, "The LORD doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Martin Luther King was absolutely right when he said that the right way to judge a person is not by the colour of their skin (ie their outward appearance) but by the content of their character.