Like you said it is how you react to these incidents or people...
I hang around with a few old timers, one has 25 years sober, everytime he bumps into old drinking "buddies" they talk about when he was drunk and the antics they got up to in the 5 minutes they manage to corner him...
Its useful to remember that if you had a more than fleeting relationship with another person, and you then disappear from the relationship, then when you reconnect into that person they will see you as the person they last had significant contact with...basically if you stay sober and bump into a drinking buddy in 10 years time who you haven't had much contact with in that time you will still be the ass at the bar because that's all they know of you...and that makes perfect sense to me:-)