Shallow Waters

The other day, one of my office staff pulled me aside and asked me if she could have my opinion on something. She prefaced it by saying "tell me if I am shallow, or not". It seems that she had been speaking online to a man that she met through a dating site. He lives in another country. He is a lawyer (or so he says). She enjoys corresponding with him and he is very nice. After a few weeks they traded pictures. Here comes the shallow part. He isn't good looking. What should she do. After going through the immediate motherly advice of ... make sure he is who he says he is, check him out, find out where he works and verify it, etc, etc, we got to talking about how emotions can change our vision. Sometimes a picture does not give a true insight into a person. People are not one dimensional. When you look at a picture you cannot see a glint in someone's eye. You cannot see how their smile may light up a room. You do not get the feeling of their energy. Many times a beautiful person can turn very ugly, and a plain looking person can turn beautiful. Take babies for example. Most of them are born pretty funny looking, but to their parents, they are the most beautiful child in the world. In the end, she decided that the next time he came to America, she would meet him in person and go from there. I think he should stay on the other side of the ocean where the water is deeper.