Correct me if I´m wrong, but your "tone" suggests to me that when you say "To me, there are many things more important" you imply that to me this is a top priority, above family, education, compassion etc.
My family will always be my top priority and how compassion and looks can ever be connected is far from my comprehension.
Honestly I have no idea what tops your list. Well, actually now, after reading your second paragraph, I do. I was just saying that appearance doesn't top my list. I don't see how that implies that it tops yours.
I do know some people who place appearance at the top of their lists. My niece is an example. I love her. She's a good person. Most of her free time and money is spent on her appearance. Because she spends so much time and money on her appearance, she doesn't have as much time or money to do other things (further her education, volunteer, clean, etc). It's the way she is. Again, she is a good person. She just has different priorities.
I wasn't making a correlation between appearance and compassion. I was merely listing things that are important to me. If someone is spending a lot of time on appearance, I'd think it was important to them. If they spent more time on appearance than cleaning their home, I'd say their physical appearance seems to be more important than a clean home to them. If someone spends more time volunteering at soup kitchens than keeping up with the latest fashions, doing their hair, and wearing perfectly applied makeup, then I'd think compassion/volunteering was more important to them than their appearance.
And I am in no way suggesting that it's one of the other. Of course people can be compassionate and dedicated to their appearance. There are only so many hours in a day, so much energy in a person, and so much money to be spent, though. If so much is spent on appearance, it has to draw from somewhere else.
Also, everyone has different opinions on where the line should be drawn. I don't do mom jeans. I think they're ugly and unflattering. Some other women don't care. They may wear mom jeans and a plaid camp shirt from 1990, but still keep up with hygiene and think they're presentable. So if somone here says you shouldn't go to the grocery store looking like crap, some may envision a woman with unbrushed hair, stretch pants, a stained t shirt and no bra. Others might envision a woman who just stuck her hair in a pony tail, has on jeans and a tshirt and
crocs.
Anyway, here I am rambling and rambling and still, I feel, not getting my thoughts out correctly.