Possibly continuing on with last post's theme... THE PAST

How important is someone's past?

... and more importantly...

How much of someone's past is relevant to the make-up of their current character?

You hear it said many, many times. How we learn from our past experiences - whether they be good/bad experiences, good choices or mistakes.

MISTAKES

mistake: n.
1. An error or fault resulting from defective judgement, deficient knowledge, or carelessness
2. An unintentional error

We all make mistakes. Some of them were intentional at the time, and it's only when you look back on them months or even years later that you realise how clouded, misguided or defective your judgement was. Some mistakes are petty and can be forgotten within a short period of time; others become a burden for a very large part of the future.

So does the burden every go away? Does the burden of a mistake ever expire?

How can it?

When you first meet someone, when you initially start to get to know them, don't we want to know what their past was like? And isn't it in our nature to automatically judge people because of their past? Sure, some people are able to see past another person's mistake - accept them as part of a misguided part of their life... but there will always be people that rely on the fact of a person's past and be unable to get past them to get to know the person NOW - the person who has potentially learned from their mistakes.

Then there are a whole set of unforgiveable mistakes. Each person has a different idea of what actions are part of this set.

So what happens when you meet someone that considers one of your past misjudgements as unforgivable? Is it even worth pursuing that friendship/relationship? ... when it's more than likely that, no matter how young/misguided/naive/blind/immature you were at the time, no matter how long ago it was when you made the mistake - it's always going be part of your character resume for that person.

Not many people enjoy remembering their past mistakes. Even more don't like to be judged because of them.

I'm one of those people. It's because of my past mistakes that I've realised how important it is to consider a person's CURRENT character instead of digging up a past that they don't want to remember. For some, mistakes are a means for gaining a similar realisation.

Just something I was thinking about. Bye.