160.

People are judgemental.
It's a fact.
As much as we protest against being judgemental, I think you'd be hard pressed to find somebody who has never judged another.

And the things that we base our judgements on are utterly ridiculous.
Oh, she's so fat.
He's got the shittiest job.
She dresses in the weirdest clothes.
Look how many piercings that guy has!

Now, it would be hypocritical for me to say that we should never judge anyone.
But surely there are better ways to judge whether somebody is worthy of your time?

I'm reminded of this awful reality show I once watched. I forget the name now, but the basic concept of the show was that they got a bunch of typically 'good looking' people together and told them that they were competing for the title of America's Best Looking Person.
But secretly, the judges were judging people on their 'inner beauty'.
Of course, the catch to the show is that all of these 'beautiful' people, were absolutely horrible people on the inside.

It's a funny thing. The way that some people act towards others.
I was having a conversation with someone the other day, and we came to the subject of restaurants. It made me think.
I think that you can tell a lot about a person by the way that they treat people they consider to be 'below' them. People such as a waiter or waitress in a restaurant, or the person at the checkout in a shop.
For me personally, I appreciate that these people have jobs which require them to be on their feet all day, being paid most of the time minimum wage, and getting very little reward in return for their work.
I always try to smile, make eye contact, and be nice to these people.

For me, seeing somebody be rude to wait staff or checkout people simply because they consider them to be of a lower class, etc to themselves is a total deal breaker.
Chances are if someone is a bastard to them, they're going to be a bastard in other areas too.

I also think you can tell a lot about a person by the way they treat their friends.
So many people seem to be easily able to ditch their friends on a night out if they meet someone they're attracted to. Or the minute they start a relationship, it's like nobody else matters.
I understand that giddy feeling of attraction, or the cute honeymoon stage.
But still, you have to think if somebody is completely willing to let their friendships lapse so easily, what do you think is going to happen the minute you start having any kind of issue in the relationship?

The other day when I was on the train to work, an older lady got on the train. She was quite frail looking and there were no seats. I wasn't in a position to get up and give her my seat as she was too far away. But I sat and watched, as a few 'respectable' looking young men in suits just stared at her blankly, or pretended that they didn't see her. Meanwhile, next to one of these young men, was a scruffy looking guy, obviously a tradesmen of some sort, with facial piercings and tattoos, blasting his music loudly. This guy stood up immediately and offered the older lady his seat.

Just because somebody looks a bit rough, doesn't mean that they are a shit person, or a bad person, or that they are any less of a person than you.
I think sometimes we forget that.

Don't judge a book by it's cover.
Judge it by it's content.

That book with the ratty old cover, and dog-eared pages might just end up being the best book that you've ever read.