[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Ex-Goldman Sachs trader Greg Smith made history when his resignation was published worldwide in the NYTimes Op-Ed Section.  It was good enough to make it into the Top Ten List of Resignations for this generation - joining the likes of former President Richard Nixon and ex-JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater. It's been about a week since to blowup and the impact of the event and its serious message on Wall Street is still being determined.  Goldman quickly defended the honor of its corporate culture, and immediately began scouring firm email with a net lexicon that will ferret out any and all references to "Muppets" and "Muppet characters." Admittedly, that's the easy part, and it's not clear whether the firm, and Wall Street in turn, can scrub clean its recently minted "dirty" image.  NYTimes reporter Francesco Guerrera, for one, believes that Goldman can clean up its banking image and culture, which would likely move others on Wall Street to do the same.  If real tangible change is achieved, the financial industry may be able to shed its public image as "greedy, grubby, self-centered 'Masters of the Universe'. Will the Truth Set Goldman Free? Instead of investigating Mr. Smith's accusations, Goldman might take the opportunity to explain how clients fit into the firm's priorities, Mr. Guerrera said.  "Banks aren't charities - they should have said - and they don't just seek to make money for customers.  They also have shareholders, employees and executives who expect to get paid.  Financial bosses - more often than not - try to conduct their business as legally and ethically as possible, to satisfy all their constituencies.  Conflicts are inevitable, however;  and if that's truly the case, Wall Street must convince its customers and the public-at-large that that is the case. Victim of Its Own Making. Banks, the Money & Investing editor said, have created unrealistic expectations of a "client-driven" culture.  Rather, banks should just be honest.  Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein and President and COO Gary Cohn took a good first step in restating and reinforcing Goldman's "clients-first" philosophy, immediately after the release of Smith's Op-Ed piece.  They did so by shedding light on what the public should expect, going forward. One Other Consequence of Greg Smith's Parting Shot. Heightened awareness. As a Wall Street executive put it: "Every firm has 100 Greg Smiths waiting to happen." And C-I will be there to write and opine about it. For further details, go to [WSJ, 3/19/12].