To return to the cliched commentaries of parents and other childhood authority figures...

How about the times you misbehaved in school and were told that the infraction would become part of your permanent record? As if when you're forty-five and up for a big promotion the boss is going to take you aside and say something like, "John, we really like you for the job, but there's this little matter of the time you put a tack in Mary Aspinwall's chair. It's right here in your permanent record!"