Danger of Reputations

I am also reading Jayber Crow for summer book discussions. J.Crow is an orphan (at least after the first 30 pages) and lives in the orphanage called the Good Shepherd. He wonders if he has heard or should have heard (if he had been listening right) "the call." The call is what preachers talk about as being called into some kind of lifelong Christian ministry. When he finally decides he should tell Brother Whitespade (the director of the orphanage) he is delighted. It seems that J. Crow is the first ophan to ever even feel "pretty sure." He goes on to say that there was much in-intended benifit to what happened:

For his [Brother Whitespade] sake and my own, I am ashamed to tell you this, or even to remember it. For the truth is that I had not changed very much, if any. I did not become a better student or a tamer one, or less troublesome or troubled, or less inclined to wander away through any opening that presented itself. But now I had a reputation with Brother Whitespade, and therefore with the other official people, that was a perfect camouflage for what I had been and continued to be. Once I had the repuation, so long as I continued to talk up to it, I did not have to live up to it." (P. 44)

This is a good insight into the danger in reputations. Reputations should be preceded always by action and continued action ... unfortanetly it is easier than ever to simple live up to somethin in talk.