Owning My Mistakes and Being Human

By Benjamin Kerensa On October 31, 2012 · 4 Comments

Today I want to write about something that has been on my mind for close to a decade…. something that has been on my mind not because I wanted it to be on my mind but because people have brought it up repeatedly in personal attacks against me on the Internet and yes indeed people have even on one occasion posted my home address and other personal information.

Nearly a decade ago I made a terrible choice although, surely you will not find many people who make as grave of a mistake as the one I did and likely for good reason that being that its something you will have difficulty addressing for the rest of your life.

The good thing is that some people do own up to those mistakes they make in their adulthood but sadly some people cannot resist the odd urge to attack people based on their past and use the past as a weapon in an attempt to assassinate ones character. Anyone who has known me for the last decade knows that I am not that person I was a decade ago.

Today I am someone who tries to give back to every community I am involved in and I hope that those who read this who did not know about my past will choose to judge me based on my contributions of the present and who I am today.

I would like two thank two close friends for their encouragement to make this post and for knowing who I am today.

“the confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works” – saint augustine

Nathan W

bravo mr. kerensa. this took a lot of courage, and i know how seriously you are dedicated to contributing to the communities you get involved in. i look forward to continuing to work with you in that work.

“let he without guilt throw the first stone”
travis gonzales

Good on you man. It can be intimidating to choose transparency but in the end honest and humility are a safer refuge than any amount of secrecy…..unless you are hiding from a bear then all bets are off use disguises, lies whatever it takes!!! Those animals are viscous and don’t have a forgiving bone in their massive man eating bodies. Sorry got a bit silly there but seriously keep it up. Pay your dues and keep moving forward as it seems you have they can attempt to smear your reputation but your current integrity will stand or fall on it’s own merits.
David

You are not your past… Just know that only Trolls judge people by their past .

Lots of people make seriously bad choices at that age.
natsirT

Ha! Dude had to go so far as to try and attack your typing on a Reddit comment. Lame. It’s funny, right when you sent me that I was having another conversation about people making poor choices, and then either learning from them and modifying behavior or continuing on a destructive path. I’m blessed to have not only acknowledged my own short comings and worked towards improvements, but to also have known (well, still know, really) several people who have been able to make the same difficult decisions. You and LV are two I am personally very proud of.