Gossips ahoy!

 

It's amazing how much gossips and rumours there are on social media. I'm sure it wasn't like that in times of old before the T'Internet and all the gossip websites. Sure, in those days people did gossip about each other to each other. But it was at a slower pace and confined to smaller areas geographically.

Now you write something about someone on social media and it has already travelled round the globe with repeat copying and sharing. And it's so vile too. I know someone who broke a relationship and wrote about him in T'Internet in the most abusive way. Definitely slanderous or libellous or both; whatever the difference!

Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens. Born in 470 BC and died in 399 BC. When you study these dates you'll notice he was getting younger each year.

Anyway, one day, before T'Internet was invented, someone came to him with some juicy gossip about someone else. 

Beware of gossip mongers. If they are gossiping to you, they are probably gossiping about you to someone else. Gossiping is stealing. It steals someone's good name and you'll never see that person in the same light again. You'll always wonder about the gossip. And he can't buy his good name back.

So Socrates said to the gossip, "Before you tell me what you want to say, I want you to apply a three test filter.

"Test One - Are you sure what you'll tell me is true?"

The man thought a bit and said no; it was something he heard from someone else.

Socrates asked, "Is what you'll tell me good?"

The man said no; it was an awful scandal about that person.

Socrates asked again, "Is what you'll tell me useful to me?"

Again the man said no, it's just some information he'd heard from someone else about that person.  

To which Socrates replied, "Unless it's true, good and useful I don't want to know!"

Something to think about next time someone gossips to you.

Now ... have you heard the rumours about ... ... ...

Rumours and Gossip

 

There are a lot of rumours and gossip going around at the moment. Now my view is that we should never listen to gossip. You see, if you listen to gossip about someone the whole relationship and balance between two people changes. If I hear something about someone, then there is no way I will see that person in the same light again. Even if the gossip is totally wrong and untrue; suddenly the human psyche has been "hypnotised" and we'll always have a sneaking suspicion about that person. "What if the rumours are true ..." the devil will whisper in your ear. And that's unfair on the poor victim of gossip because he has had his good name taken away. And that is stealing - one of the Ten Commandments as I remember.

Now about rumours. There's a rumour amongst some of our church folks that we are near the end of times. All the signs are there, they say. Wars, famine, poverty, epidemics, trouble and strife and so on. Also, the light bulb on the stand next to my computer has just gone out - totally dead. Now there's a sign, some would say.

Well, that might be true or it might be wrong. My take on this is that every day is a day nearer to the end of times. Whether it happens tomorrow or next week or in a thousand years from now, it is still a day nearer.  

Remember back in 2012 people were convinced that it would be the end of the world? Well, I was the only one to know different. I was sure it would not happen. You see, 2012 was the year of the London Olympics and as a country we had spent a fortune preparing for it. There was no way the Government would have allowed the end of the world to happen before getting back the benefits of all that money spent.

Now another rumour around here is about our neighbour down the road; a lady called Edna. Apparently, according to another neighbour, Edna wears wigs. Different coloured ones, Blonde, jet black, light brown and even a light tint of violet or blue. I often wondered why her hair was different colours, and I thought she dyed her hair. But I'm told it's different wigs. Apparently she washes them in the washing machine and hangs them out to dry in the back garden. As with all gossip; I'll never see Edna in the same light again.

And yet another rumour in our neighbourhood is about cats. Or one cat in particular. Apparently there's a big cat around. I'm not sure how big. Some folk says he's as big as a small dog, or a medium sized dog, or a big dog, or an elephant even ... depending on which neighbour you listen to. It is said he roams the streets at night and has been seen by some people; or to be precise, they saw his shadow as he passes by the street's lamp posts casting a menacing figure against the walls of the houses.

Worse still, I have been told by a friend, that a man living three streets down from here, has been told by his cousin, that his colleague down at the factory in town, has it on good authority that this large cat steals bicycles.

Can you imagine that? A big cat who steals bicycles! Whatever next? Crime of epidemic proportions. What if this cat gets a liking for motorcycles, or cars? 

I think all these rumours are getting out of hand. I'll stop listening to them. I'll sit in front of the TV and watch the news instead. At least this is the honest, well researched, and authentically verified truth.