The Unwashable Stain

Imagine you have a brand new white shirt. Looking at its lustrous getup, you wish to use it everywhere. The day you wear it first time, everyone compliments its remarkable appearance. You are now starting get noticed wherever you go. You name this shirt 'The Lucky Shirt'. You also regularly wash it, iron it, keep it in the most appropriate way possible. Everything goes great. 

Few months pass by. Its monsoon and as per routine you are wearing that shirt again. One day, while walking, you see your friends playing football. Looking at the setup you also join them to have a day full of life and getting opened up. However, you are unaware of the fact about what you are wearing. As predicted, there comes a point where the mud filled ball hits your shirt. Once the shirt got dirty you realize what has exactly happened. You rush home hoping that some detergent would wash the stain off. You tried once, the stain reduced but it is still there. You washed again, the stain reduced again but it is still there. No matter how many washes you make, stain doesn't vanishes completely. After some point the detergent stops showing any effect. On the other hand the successive washing has taken a considerable amount of toll on your  shirt's quality. The shirt is lustrous ….. no more. 

The shirt which once attracted compliments from everyone now just repels them. The shirt which once had made you a center of attraction has now become the reason to be ignored. The shirt, which once was lucky for you, is not the most hated entity for you. Atleast the stained shirt can be replaced, but what about a STAINED IMAGE?

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once it slips, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them

-Law 5, The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene

Along with your skill sets, your reputation plays a key role in this society-centric world. You may or may not be a morally great person from inside, but if you are successful in presenting yourself as a morally sound person in the society, the society will give the adequate importance to your stand. An image of a person or a brand holds such a potential that, if used adequately, it may become the source of their power. For example, famous premium brands like BMW, Rolls Royce, Rolex, Apple, etc. do not really need to invest much on marketing to increase their sales as their contemporaries have to do. Through decades of valuable performance, they have built an image where they have already instilled a sense of trust in the peoples' minds. This also hold true for many individuals across the globe too. Their Name is their Brand itself.

With such real world examples of reputation's power, one cannot afford to stain their own by making reckless mistakes. This applies to all: This includes those who have already risen above the contemporaries, those who are aspiring to rise or those who simply want to live a smooth life. Just like the once pristine shirt, the person's reputation can be permanently altered with a single misstep and it could never be replaced. The hard earned image over the years would be just lost within a matter of seconds and before you realize it the game could be over.

The takeaway is simple. With great power comes great responsibility. Be wary of your actions and your words while interacting with anyone. Also be aware of the image that you have projected in front of the society. Throughout the history, people have either crafted a false image or presented their true selves. Maintaining the latter part is much easier. The former part, although fake, might be necessary in different stages of life; just maintaining it is a tedious task. One must refrain himself from going with the flow when around friends or any comforting situation because these are the places where the most epic massacres of one's reputation have been documented every now and then in the history. It's better avoiding than regretting later. The world is not a fairyland to forgive each and everything, so stay safe.

AI Generated Image using DALL-E via CHATGPT