"Whispering Game"
About half-a-dozen or more kids sit in a circle and the first child whispers something into the ear of the second and so forth. By the time the whisper gets to the last child something completely hilarious comes out that has nothing to do with what was first whispered. The #1 rule to this game is you can only whisper it once and NO REPEATING IS ALLOWED.
Today's subject is... (DRUM ROLL PLEASE)... Gossip! Now as a child we would play an innocent game full of fun and laughter but as adults the he-say-she-say stuff isn't just a game of fun anymore. It's a game that theoretically throws knives from your mouth to inflict pain to another emotionally and eventually you ruin their reputation. I brought up the "Whispering Game" because that is exactly how rumors happen and get exaggerated. One person starts an assumption and states it as a fact and the second person repeats what is said but puts their little flair into it and eventually makes it into their own story and so on and so on. Let's call that domino effect THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF GOSSIP. Now this is definitely a sensitive subject because us as humans like to take offense to something we may know is wrong but we just don't want to admit to it. Some make excuses or justifications such as, "It's not gossip when it's the truth" or "Well hey... The truth hurts! (as he/she shrugs their shoulders)" All of this talk of he-say-she-say mumbo jumbo is justified by I'M JUST TELLIN THE TRUTH but honestly have you ever stepped back from the situation to think if it was true or not rather than going off of what others say?
My point of view is we don't understand exactly how deep our words cut when we speak ill of another person. Gossip is nothing less than a scandal meaning you are spreading rumors or simply talking about someone that is damaging to ones reputation; it is usually more or less awful but still poisonous. Drama is always unnecessary and never ceases to happen but completely cutting out gossip in your life will definitely reduce any future drama that may come your way and life will seem just a little bit easier. The classic advice TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TREATED can be used in the scenario with slightly different changes.
"TALK ABOUT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TALKED ABOUT..."
i read a talk that changed my life. I highly recommend it. Its in the February Ensign of 1997 and its called "Criticism" by Daliin H. Oaks
ReplyDeleteOne of his main points was avoiding faultfinding in others, and focusing on their qualities rather than their weaknesses. We all have things that need a little work, but if all we did was tell the world about each other's faults, eventually we'd tear down all the people we love.
Then he made the point that just because something is true doesn't justify communicating it to anyone else, at anytime. I'm a big believer in that.
True gossip doesn't help anyone, no matter the intentions. There's always a better way to communicate than gossip. Thanks for the post!
uh...scratch that, it was 1987. not 97. my bad.
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