Is a person's physical appearance important?
In today's society, even in the towns that do not necessarily support or have gangs, people are discriminated against by their looks rather than their attitude. If somebody saw a high-schooler wearing jeans five sizes too big with chains dangling from their coat and pants pockets, they would not think very highly of them without even a "how-do-you-do." That is the case with many things, not just people; if I saw a black-and-blue skinned apple in my refrigerator, I would throw it away without bothering to check what was inside.
This phrase is true. I a decently dressed student put a tack on a teacher's chair, in discovering the tack, the teacher would immediately dismiss the well-dressed student for innocent and try to pick out the least charming. An unsuspecting snacker may eat two fruits and get sick; he would suspect that the least appetizing fruit would be responsible for his illness.
Often times, however, the things in life that look innocent on the outside could have flaws (minor or major) inside. The geode is one of the most spectacular of rocks, but only on the inside. Malachite has a shiny outer shell, but that shell is easily chipped to reveal the cold, lifeless interior. Some people are the same.
Consider for a moment that everybody acted the same way they looked. We would have no diverse society, then, and there would be no benefit-of-the-doubt whether someone really was cold and heartless. If everybody acted like they looked, we could possibly have a very serious cultural problem.
Despite all this, people still judge most of the people and things they see by looks. There are not many people out there who actually bother to get to know a person before stamping them with "nice" or "cold." People do not have the patience to tell the difference between somebody who looks decent but acts shabby and somebody who looks shabby but acts decently.