Stained

We start life with a clean, white sheet. Unstained by our missteps. Untainted. 

All it takes is one misstep to permanently stain that white sheet. 

It then takes repeated behavior for an extended period of time to lighten the stain. The stain progressively lightens but the sheet never returns to the pristine white that it once was. 

The stain can become very faint, so faint that those seeing the sheet for the first time won’t see it until it has been pointed out by someone who saw it when it was darker. 

The sheet then cannot be viewed without noting the stain again. 

Each misstep adds one more stain. 

A record of our past transgressions. 

Some sheets are full of faded stains due to altered behaviors. 

Others, by complacency or willful ignorance, have only a few bright stains serving as constant reminders to the world of their failure to change.