I've had some successes. I've done some bad things in my life, whether you want to chalk them up to youthful indiscretion is arbitrary. I choose to really not bring them up anymore because it was a different time, I was a different person, and there's nothing I can do to change things that have happened in the past. The important thing is that I've become a decent person now, and am living up to my responsibilities and my sense of personal integrity, at least for the most part. There is room for improvement, but overall, I'm pretty happy with who I am as a person.
What I've also figured out is that for me to judge other people is pretty damn silly. If I think you may be making a mistake in something because you don't have all the information I'll probably tell you, but putting a judgement on someone or blaming them for something without having a great deal of understanding of their circumstances at the time is pretty freakin' assholic.
Here's the guide for me: if you fuck up and you take responsibility for it, you get the thumbs up. If you fuck up then try to blame other people for your problem, I pee on your feet.
If you made a decision and took action with the best of your knowledge but it turned out that you didn't know everything in the beginning and now there are unexpected consequences, then you get my support. If you made a decision despite knowledge that something was wrong, then you may get my sympathy, but my heart will only bleed a little bit.
I predict that these very words will bite me in the ass before the year is out.
