Saint/Sinner

Today at school I saw this on the back of someone's t-shirt: "Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future" after I told the guy I liked his shirt I started to think about how true this statement is. Why is it that someone's past determines what they are today, its true that some people really can't "change" well let me rephrase... they can but they refuse the opportunity to do so. But people that truely have changed often still get labeled as "sinners" but in reality, everyone has done something that they aren't proud of, whether they have managed to keep it a secret or not. So why are people whose mistakes become known sometimes become different people? As much as people say "oh I don't think any differently of you because of that" many do. As cheesy as it is to say "don't judge til you've been in their shoes" it's true, we really should think about what we would do in that situation. Especially before we give that person a label or stereotype in our heads of that particular person. Someone's past doesn't decide their present, or their future. Also, just because someone has a past doesn't mean they don't deserve the opporunity to change, it's one thing when the opportunity is given and denied but how fair is it if the opportunity isn't even given in the first place? My brother was an alcoholic and a drug addict, what if no one ever gave him the opportunity to change? What if his family just walked out of his life and ignored him because of his mistakes? He wouldn't be the sober man that is mentoring teenager addicts that he is today. So basically we should all think about how we judge people because of what they have done.

Annalise