My parents, who were involved in Michigan politics and always giving parties, drilled my siblings and me with these instructions when we were young. Like most children, we were shy around grown-ups, especially those we didn’t know. We preferred to sneak downstairs and hang around out of sight on the fringes of a party, picking at the food on the sideboard or covertly spying on the guests, who were loud but generally pretty boring.

Once, my little brother, Jimmy, drank melted ice water from a martini pitcher in the kitchen and then crawled under the table, where he lay on the linoleum pretending to be drunk, providing an opportunity for high drama for my sister Molly and me.

Years earlier, when I was 3 and my brother Bill was 5, my parents threw a party for Gov. G. Mennen Williams. Bill and I had just broken out from head to toe with a chicken pox rash. We were put to bed and ordered not to come downstairs, which we did anyway, presenting ourselves covered in pox to the partygoers and exposing them all to the virus. Not unlike Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, “The Masque of the Red Death.” I swear I remember this.

Mornings after these parties, when my parents were still in bed, we kids used to rummage under the sofa cushions for coins that had fallen out of the men’s suit coat pockets. My point, from which I’ve admittedly strayed, is that self-presentation is everything. The way you present yourself — whether courteous and self-assured, flaunting a virulent case of pox or lying under the kitchen table in an apparent drunken stupor — is apt to make an impression on others, for better or worse.

Which brings us to our case in point, Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Jack Smith is a perfect example of the power of the first impression, and of consistent subsequent impressions. According to Reuters, Smith “has a reputation for winning tough cases against war criminals, mobsters and crooked cops.” But never mind that. Just look at his photograph. He is terrifying! In the courtroom or in interviews he doesn’t bother to smile. He doesn’t rely on glamor or boyish charm or long-winded speechifying.

In all of the images I’ve seen of Smith, I have not seen one in which he deviates from a sort of glowering glare, his eyes burning straight into the camera. No trace of a smile. It’s his look, his brand. The result is that just about everyone who sees his picture assumes he is a formidable, even an unbeatable, foe.

I mean, if you get to know Jack Smith, maybe he’s a real nice guy. Or maybe not, there’s no telling. To me, his bearded images are especially intimidating.

Some background: Jack Smith was appointed last November by Attorney General Merrick Garland to take over two U.S. Justice Department investigations involving Donald Trump.

After Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the indictment of Trump for allegedly falsifying New York business records to conceal unlawful activity, Smith’s investigation has secured two additional indictments against the former U.S. president, the first for illegally keeping classified documents and the second for alleged efforts by the former president to overturn the 2020 election.

Cameras were not allowed in the D. C. courtroom where Trump was arraigned on four counts, but according to reporters who were present, Smith and Trump locked eyes in a stare-down that lasted several seconds. On another occasion, Smith reportedly glared at Trump, who has subsequently avoided eye contact with the special counsel. I can’t blame him. Apparently, Smith has Trump running scared.

Here are some things that Donald Trump has said or typed on social media about Jack Smith:

“He’s a deranged human being … a deranged, sick person … a deranged lunatic, a thug, and a raging and uncontrolled Trump hater.

“The prosecutor in the case, I will call our case, is a thug. I have named him Deranged Jack Smith. He’s a behind-the-scenes guy, but his record is absolutely atrocious. He does political hit jobs.

“He’s a raging and uncontrolled Trump hater, as is his wife, who happened to be the producer of that Michelle Obama puff piece.

“This is the guy I’ve got,” Trump said. He also accused Smith of “illegally leaking, everything and anything, to the Fake News Media!!!”

Stand up straight, and have a good week.

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(Martha Allen lives in Keene Valley. She has been writing for the Lake Placid News for more than 20 years.)