Food for Thought

So, today's post is inspired by a quote from Margaret Mitchell--author of Gone with the Wind. She said:

With enough courage, you can do without a reputation. 

Ever since I saw this quote, I have been thinking about what that really means.  You could interpret this in a few ways to me. The first thing I thought about was social capital.  Everyone has personality bank accounts. When we need favors from other people, we pull from this bank account.  When we give favors to other people, we are depositing into the bank account for use later.  Some people relate this bank account to your reputation, because it serves as the interest on the account. If you have a "good" reputation your interest rate is higher so there is a higher reserve there.  I wonder sometimes how my reputation affects my bank account.  But if you think about Margaret's words....you don't need this interest rate if you have the courage enough to stand up for yourself.  While I agree with this, sometimes it is a lot harder--so there is a price to pay for this courage.

But on the other hand, I was thinking about reputation like your own self-esteem.  If you worry about other people think of you, reputation means something completely different. You want other people to think well of you, so you please them to help your reputation.  But if you have the courage to stand up for what you believe in no matter what other people think, then you don't need a reputation because you don't care what other people think of you.

What do you think? Is reputation worth it? Or is courage more important?

Margaret Mitchell courtesy of Wikipedia