How are a tree, a shadow and our reputation connected?

"Character is like a tree, and reputation is like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." -- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States I thought about this and did not think too much about it. Then I went to lunch I saw a tree shadow. That is when it got interesting. I noticed several things. The more I looked at different trees and shadows the more I thought about the quote. We put a lot of stock in our reputations and we should to a point, why? Our reputation maybe someone else s first impression of us. Is this what we always want? I had some crazy thoughts going on. Please bear with me on this. I said I noticed several different thinks about the shadows. One it was hard to tell what kind of tree it was just by the shadow. I looked at Palm trees, Pine trees, Cottonwood trees, Elm trees and Ash trees. The Palm was the most distinctive while the other trees were harder to tell what they were by the shadow. Two, where the shadow was cast made the shadow clearer or less distinct. Example if the shadow was on grass it was less distinct than on pavement and pavement was less distinct than if it as cast on a car. Why did I find this interesting. If our reputation is like the shadow of a tree, what would make us clear and distinct would be up how we cast that shadow on someone else. The other thing that came to mind was that it would be the reality of whom we cast that shadow on and their take on us. This does not always me it would be an accurate representation us. Think about it. How many times have you been talking to someone then finally introduce yourselves and they say "your that person. Your are nothing like so and so you described you." I thought that was interesting about the quote, "the tree is the real thing, or character". The shadow is representative of our character not always our true character. The shadow or reputation maybe represent part of us not always give clear or distinct representation of ourselves. We should endeavor to make the most of a good reputation however we are not in full control of the shadow we cast. Our reputation is based on how someone else sees us and interprets our actions or words and then projects them. Our shadow can become defused, indistinct and not even represent us. Part of it is up to us to make very clear, very distinctive and positive impressions on those we touch in our lives so the shadow we cast is as representative of our true character. Just something to think about.