Emma Jordan

Kayla

Senior Sem. - Reputation

December 6, 2018

Reputation DOK

Reputation is all about which of your actions you are most known for; that means good or

bad. Those with a bad or decreasing backgrounds can have major consequences in their life; such

as, job termination, getting arrested, loss of power, refusal of employment, and more. However,

having a good history could potentially allow you to make a good first impression on people you

haven’t even met. There are are many ways a person’s reputation can change, but it is possible to

keep and build a good one.

Those who don’t care about their reputation normally end up easily damaging it. Those

who have better impulse control tend to have a better notoriety than those who act impulsively

(Wikipedia). People create a bad rep even nearby, in Grand Junction, there was a criminal who

had several recurring charges. Although strangely, his bad record with charges for trespassing,

theft, assault, dui/public intoxication didn’t stop him from being released. He was released

because he insisted he was a good person (Lofholm). The internet has also made it easy to lose a

good reputation; an employer can now search online profiles to learn about your unprofessional

behavior.

On the other hand, people are constantly doing things to keep their reputation. Those with

a good morality keep their promises, help others, exceed expectations, look the part, have

integrity, show good body language, etc. (Brustein). It is extremely important to be careful with
reputation because it is much easier to break than build. Especially in this day of technology,

responsibility is a necessity in any media strategy. It is important to be aware and meaningful to

speak appropriately to the audience (Pollard).

Since I grew up in a small town, most of my reputation is mostly based around my

family. It seems that I always introduce myself as “so and so’s daughter/sister” when someone

from BV asks who I am. Other than that, my reputation is most likely built through school.

Sometimes teachers would compare me to my older sister, but if they hadn’t taught her I would

create a different expectation for my little brother. I haven’t gotten in trouble at school often, but

I was once sent out of class and recently my brother has struggled with the same teacher.

Overall, I have kept a fairly good reputation.

However, through adulthood I will not have the same “small town” label and I can

rebuild a new reputation somewhere new. I believe that detaching myself to my community will

remove some assumptions people in BV can have when meeting me. The future is the fresh slate

for me to build my reputation on. I hope that others’ perception of me is not based on my

economic or family background; I want people to know me based on my morals and personality.

This is difficult to achieve in this tiny community, so I hope to find a “bigger pond” where I can

create a new reputation for myself.