The company you keep

I have been hearing a lot about guilt by association lately. People are saying it's unfair to judge someone just because he spends time with people that have questionable or bad reputations. I cannot agree with this assumption.



I remember when I was a boy, I had to introduce all of my friends to my mother. She would ask them about everything from their parents to schoolwork. She wanted to know everything she could about them. Then she would ask her friends if they knew anything my friends. If she came across anything that was debatable, I was no longer allowed to play with them. End of story.



This was especially true when I was in high school. I hung out with guys that smoked marijuana and drank. She asked me if I was getting high or drinking. I told her that I wasn't (which was true). She said that if I kept hanging around with them, I would get the same reputation, deserved or not. And she was right. People I respected started to treat me differently. Of course being a teenager, I didn't care, they were my friends. When I stopped hanging out with them, people started treating me as they did before. What a change.



Let's look at another situation. Would you stand by and watch your child marry someone who won't work, takes drugs, or sleeps around on them? Would you listen to your child say,"I love them and they'll change when we get married" and do nothing? I didn't think so. Why would you be so worried? Could it be because of the reputation your child will get? How about the reputation you may get...



As the old saying goes, "If you sleep with dogs, you'll wake up with fleas." I think nowadays it should be, "If you hang out with trash, you'll walk away with the stink."