not judging a book by its cover

I don't think I truly understood the meaning of this until a few months ago. Ever since I started volunteering at the Salvos Store I've noticed that there are actually not many volunteers. The majority of the people that "work" there are serving community service hours because they've gotten into trouble with the law. For about a year, I didn't really bother "talking" to any of them. I didn't hate them or anything, I still made small talk with them, but I never really bothered getting to know any of them. I don't know why, I just wasn't interested. But a few months ago, I started talking to this lovely lady called Sarah. She told me about her life, how she was forced to drop out of school in year 10 and get married because of her Turkish traditions, how she has two kids (the youngest being 13 months) and how guilty she feels for having to leave them at home to do community service. I can tell she doesn't enjoy community service (who does?), but she is willing to work productively, as opposed to the lazy douchebags that just linger around the back, rummaging through the dvds. She puts on a smile and is super friendly to everybody. Surprisingly, despite our age difference, we are able to relate to each other. I really enjoy her company on Saturdays. I haven't asked her what it is she's done, and I don't plan to because it doesn't matter to me. She is who she is and I love her for that. Nothing she says will change that. People make mistakes, I think it's absolutely ridiculous how they have to live with 'criminal' tattooed to their forehead for the rest of their lives. Anyway kids, the moral of the day is to never judge a book by its cover. Just because somebody has a criminal record, it doesn't mean that they are a thug without feelings. Just think about how they feel before judging, eh?