I remember way back when. I would look at the people with orange names and I would think something along these lines:

They are the people who have sacrificed themselves for the good of the site, always having good things to say and always filling people with their wisdom. Nothing that they ever say is on the level that everybody else does. They are selfless, always thinking of others, and never do anything wrong on this site.

Believe it or not, for as exaggerated as that sounds, it's actually what I thought. Now that I'm an orange orangutan, though, I see things from a different light.

Oranges do make mistakes.

When EmperorWhenua first reminded me of that, that they were just as good as everyone else, I thought it was just a little piece of poetry. Sure, I saw one POBZPC flat out break the no politics rule as bluntly as one could do so, but I still thought that they generally always had a higher moral caliber than the rest of us.

Now I am in their shoes. You know how I feel? Not too special. I'm orange, and I have made mistakes. Just look down about three blog entries and you will see what I mean. Even though I edited that entry, I still feel that I lost a lot of dignity over it. In the end, I feel more like a newbie than ever before. The whole "I'm the Newb POBZPC" banner doesn't seem all that out of place, really.

What's more, the only reason I am orange is because a true orange crusader bought me a premier membership. Twice. That counts for four proto. Of the five proto it took me to fill my bar, only one was actually out of anything good I did. Apparently my blog pleased bonesiii. Honestly, though, I didn't do much to get here. I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of other people have similar stories. EmperorWhenua once also told me that a lot of people have basically bought their proto, which doesn't say much for their character.

For those who have less than half a bar of proto, their missing pieces are usually due to single incidents. It happens with me all the time in real life. I can work all year in school to be good and, out of one bad conversation with someone, be suspended for the rest of the year. What you can spend forever building can be torn down in a day. It doesn't take much. Same case with those lacking proto. Certainly, you can make a generalized conclusion, like a person who has zero proto has had a bad history, but these individuals are nothing to look down upon. They could just as easily be me. Fate just had a different place for me.

What it all comes down to, the proto energy bar does not define one's character. It does not even define one's reputation, unless you let it. All members are equal, as far as I am concerned. I am glad I can respect that fact now.

Your Honor,

Emperor Kraggh