Appearance

​There is a show on tv called “Keeping up Appearances.” The humour lies in the fact that despite the stars intentions, they are made to look very common all the time. 
All is not as it seems.  Australians in particular seem to be fixated on celebrity worship.  I do not know how true it is now, but we were known as the greatest consumers per capita of celerity magazines in the world.  We just could not get enough.  We wanted to know what was happening to each and every royal and movie star.
What concerns me about celebrity worship apart from their imperfection like the rest of us is that all that glitters is not gold.  I look to them like they deserve to be in their exalted role.  They may be.  But they may not be too.
I, like most, look to the pretty, the good looking, the movie actor (generally an embodiment of looks and some ability) as though their words should be hung off.  Yet so often I find it is the one I so easily overlook that has what is worthwhile to say.  I guess it is human nature to look to someone who seems to be head and shoulders above the rest.
Yet it really does seem to be the one who has no beauty in themselves to make them desirable that is desirable.  More than once I have had a choice.  The person that appears the best, or the person that is the best.  Appearances though, really can be deceptive.  So often it seems the real gold is to be found in the most unlikely place.
Someone may appear to be born for a role and that is all it turns out to be – appearance.  Like in scissors, rock, paper, substance beats appearance every time.  A person may not have movie star looks and be like a magnet drawing people, but they are personable and get the job done without fuss.  This is desirable to me above anything else.
What I want to know too is can a person follow?  To me the best leaders are the best followers.  Some leaders sure can look the part but can they be the part?  Some folk are just dangerous.  They may be a leader but there is no short cut to leadership.  Inheritance does not make a leader.  Nor does money.  A leader may have those things, but that does not automatically make a person a good leader.  By the same token a person may appear to have nothing going for them, but they are great leaders.
Whatever the case an apprenticeship must be served.  Most great leaders would do anything but lead if they could.  I knew a great leader in Townsville who said if he had it his way the house would be shut up and he be locked in his room behind a desk with a machine gun.  Yet he led thousands and was a goodie.
What concerns me is someone who leads as though it is their divine right.  It may well be but there is a school everyone must attend.  Not like one that has a course in Leadership 101 but a course in hard knocks.  One that makes a person small before it makes them big. 
Figures from history come to mind.  They were followed and loved not because people had to, but because they wanted to.  Their gold was not in their appearance, but in their substance.