Donna muses (or rants, whichever way you want to look at it) on reputation:
On a different note: does reputation matter? Does it actually matter what people think of you? Should how people view you have any bearing on how you view yourself? And if you’re so ashamed of the things that you do that you don’t want anybody to know… should you really be doing them?
Well, you know, on the whole the only thing that matters is whether you yourself like you the way you are. Other people may dislike what you do, and may let their prejudice affect how they treat you, but that is really no reason to pretend to be something you’re not. If you don’t get that job because of the recruiter’s prejudice, well, then, tough luck. But would it be better to hide whatever is unusual about you? Would you really want to work someplace where you’d have to watch every word you say so as not to “expose yourself”? I wouldn’t.
One of my favourite Gruks – Hvad må folk tro – has a bearing on the subject. A rough translation would go something like this:
What might people think
Question and answer.
The fear, which drives
many to the brink:
the question of
what might people think?
There’s only one answer
you can use
that people may think
what they bloody choose.
(Piet Hein)