Abraham Lincoln once said, “Character is like a tree and reputation is like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Many people could take this quotation different ways, but it means a lot more to me than words a deceased man said in his lifetime. This quote inspires me daily, and has a great significance in my life, along with many others. In the comparison of a tree to its shadow, one could think that the shadow is merely what follows the tree. If this was true according to Abraham Lincoln, the reputation of what others think of us is just something that follows our character- who we really are. As I see it, the tree and the shadow are two independent things. One person could have the reputation of being a liar, a cheater, or even not worthy of respect; just because of a mistake made in the past. He/she could have the most respectable, noteworthy character; but nobody would know because of the shadow of reputation that follows. Personally, I have experienced a lot of people looking at my shadow, and not the tree in front. I moved to Madison Comprehensive High School in the fall of 2012, and at the time it seemed like a great idea. I had family in the school, and all my friends from church went to the school, so it couldn’t be too bad. My cousin was the captain of the cheerleading team, so I spent most of my time with her and her senior friends from the football and cheerleading teams. I met one of her friends named Allen, and we immediately hit it off. He took me on dates, worked on my car, and we were together all the time before I made my move to the high school. Once I came to the school, things changed. Allen became distant, and we stopped talking as much as we usually did. Because of his reputation- his shadow- I soon had the same reputation for being with him. People started seeing the “pretty new girl”