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Inner beauty is the only real beauty. The looks that adorn the outside are like the leaves of a tree; here for a season and gone in a short time. Only inner beauty endures.

I traveled a great deal as a child since my father was in the military. I was fortunate to be able to spend my critical teen years in Germany. There I met many very beautiful women from all over Europe. Spoiled by this wealth, I developed a discriminating eye about what beauty really is.

I joined the Navy and continued to travel though I was home ported in California for most of my career. The West Coast is the land of the beach bodies, the "beautiful people." It is also the place where people go to recreate themselves cosmetically and surgically.

The result is a very attractive bathing suit body. But all too often you discover that there is virtually nothing inside that Adonis-like physique. California is a land of empty shells; walking pin-ups with less character than a piece of paper.

As chance would have it, I frequently found myself in close contact with celebrities. Some of Hollywood's most beautiful people would come out to visit my ship, the USS ENTERPRISE. I met others in my part time job.

I took a position working security at the Sheraton Hotel in San Diego. It was a favorite stopover for celebrities because it was a short five minute trip from the San Diego airport. The place really got packed during the 1997 Superbowl.

I discovered that even among these superstars there was a dearth of inner beauty. So few of these luminaries were even worth listening to much less seeking out.

I concluded that a person's life is written on their face almost from the time they become adults. At 20 a few of us are gorgeous, the rest of us are some degree of average. How we comport ourselves over the years accumulates on our faces and changes who is beautiful and who is not.

Have you ever noticed how some old people look like sourpusses? That's the result of years of frowning and always being negative. Other people just grow more attractive over time. It might take until they're 30, 40 or 50 for others to see it.

But if you develop the habit of ignoring the shell and seeing the beauty inside, you can find the rare pearls of true beauty; the only beauty that endures, the only beauty that matters.

Learn more about this author, Morgan Johnson.
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