Yes

by Jeannie Barry-Sanders

Created on: October 09, 2009

Absolutely past behavior and reputation reflect on a person. The fact that he's walking the straight and narrow today doesn't mean that his past actions have no reflection on who he is. A person hasn't changed internally just because they reinvented themselves and unloaded some baggage.The negative parts of a person's life are still a part of them and reflect directly on their lifestyle.

People judge others every day, on the job, on the bus, on freeways and in social settings. Even though they may not know anything about youthey make snap judgments. Employers make snap judgments in interviews. If you get the job there are background checks and drug testing. If a person's past behavior or reputation didn't matter there would be no need for background checks.Even when you get hired, some jobs conduct random drug test so employers not only worry about past behavior they guard against your future behavior.

Once a reputation is damaged a person might rebound substantially but he will never be completely free of his past. People do not change. What they do is reinvent their lives and smooth out the rough spots. Their lives become a question of semantics and what changes are the words they use to describe their life and who they've become. Making a joke or laughingly excusing their behavior is one of the ways people use to dismiss negative reactions from others. They tell everyone that they have changed and are not the same person as before. Not so, they are the same person. It might be an improved version but they're the same person, tattered reputation and all.

These folks also surround themselves with new people who don't know about their past behavior or their damaged reputation. They travel a new road to hide so people won't find out the whole truth about them. In essence they live a lie every day. An example is former inmates who go to prison and find God. While in prison they have time to think, are fighting for survival and God is the best choice at the moment. They haven't changed their behavior they have just found a coping mechanism to deal with their situation. The recidivism rate for ex-offenders is high. Why? If they have changed and found God why are they returning to the prison system?

People who have bad reputations and equally bad behavior devise ways and means to cope and this in itself is a form of manipulation. That's not a change that is just a dishonest way to get over on the system for some and a survival technique for others. No one really changes. Inside a person retains their character. They might make different choices or stop doing the things that earned them the bad reputation but the traits are still inside of them.

People say all the time, oh, I wish I could do this or that over or I regret the things I did when I was younger. They have not moved on if they continue to revisit their past transgressions. The majority of people don't talk about the past or their lousy reputation. Case in point are politicians who exhibit bad behavior traits and reputations yet they are running this country.Their bad characteristics didn't just appear on Election Daythey've been dragging nasty baggage around for decades.

Another example is men who lie to women about their past and their reputations. Women marry these liars hoping to change them. It doesn't work because people do not change and the relationship becomes destructive and dysfunctional.

I'm certainly not against the idea of change for the better. Successful people have shown they can alter their personality to fit any situation. They have done a self assessment, viewed their lives in retrospect and have geniune remorse. They can and do lead decent lives. For the most part, however, people don't shed their bad behavior or bad reputations they work around it.

If a person is lucky enough their past bad behavior won't come back and haunt them and they can move forward with their lives. For some people the bad things they did in life, their damaged reputation is a learning tool. They can even become role models for someone headed down the path to self destruction. Others continue to manipulate and lie their way through life and their past behavior is truly a reflection of who they are today.

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