Each of us brings to our job, whatever it is, our lifetime of experience and our values.

O’Connor underscores that work is never performed from a neutral, blank slate: every decision and action is shaped by accumulated experience and by moral commitments. In ordinary employment this means judgment, empathy, and priorities are informed by one’s past; in O’Connor’s own judicial context, it also gestures toward the reality that judges inevitably interpret facts and law through human lenses. The line can be read as both descriptive and cautionary: descriptive because it acknowledges the inescapable role of background in professional life, and cautionary because it implies a responsibility to recognize one’s values, test them against evidence and duty, and strive for fairness despite personal predispositions.