Young people in this day and age grow up WAY too fast. Pushed or more like shoved into the "real" world with no experience, so of course they are bound to make mistakes, get in over their heads and make some just pain bad decisions. When they finally realize what they have done and how bad things are, they suck it up, admit that they were wrong and ask for advise on what to do to get them out of this situation. They do the "adult" thing and do whatever they have to, to get out of this bad place. They put in the hard work and the time, but still in this world you hit rough spots and things happen that we can't control. But now even after the fact that you worked so hard, have learned your lesson and know not to make those mistakes again, no one seems to trust you. The past always comes into the present no matter how hard you try not to let that happen... it still does.
Its not fair, especially when you didn't get yourself in the past predicament alone. The other person gets away from the predicament free and clear and the other is forced to feel the reaper cations for the next 10 years or so.

I begin to understand the saying "Life is not always fair" better and better as time passes. I now know the mistakes you make as an young adult are not as easy to fix as mistakes once seemed to be when I was younger. You used to make a mistake or a bad choice when you are young and you learned from it and fixed it. When your older you do the same thing, yet it is always with you as if you did it yesterday.
Your past is always there and there will always be someone poking back into it for you. Don't learn the hard, when things start getting hard ask for help.