Am I the only one who thinks gossip is not a good idea? Erma Bombeck said "Some say our national pastime is baseball. Not me. It's gossip!"

The women down the street, when I was a child, was the neighborhood gossip. She use to question all of the children who lived on my street. I never rode my bike faster than when I passed her house. She wanted information about my family and I was not going to give her any. She did not like me for that reason.

The Bible compares the tongue to a small spark that starts a raging fire. "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body." James 2:3.

The rudder on a ship was small but, the pilot could steer the ship where he wanted it to go, despite strong winds. So the tongue, even though it is a small member of the body, can do great harm. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. No man can tame it.

Don't belive in the Bible? How about the dictionary and it's definition of gossip? Rumor or talk of a personal, sensational or intimate nature.

Who gossips to you will gossip about you.

Gossip is fun unless it is about you.

Have I ever gossiped? Yes and I am sorry for it. I have made an earnest decision not to engage in gossip.

I think about the many "entertainment shows", "tabloid news" and "gossip blogs and websites."  What a shameful way to make a living. Why anyone would want to be famous is beyond me. And I don't know how anyone can get a fair trial in America anymore. I truly believe that a person is innocent until PROVEN guilty but a suspect is a target for the meat grinding media and lives have been ruined by false accusations and rumor. 24/7 new media is full of speclation and rumor/gossip. They have to fill the air time with something, anything.

I have had this poem for many years.  It is old and tells the truth about gossip, rumor and spreading evil.

 

The Monk And The Peasant

A peasant once unthinkingly

Spread tales about a friend.

But later found the rumors false

and hoped to make amend.

He sought the counsel of a monk,

A man esteemed and wise.

Who heard the peasant's story through

And felt he must advise.

The kind monk said: "If you would have

a mind again at peace.

I have a plan whereby you may

from trouble find release.

"Go fill a bag with chicken down

and to each dooryard go

and lay one fluffy feather where

The streams of gossip flow."

The peasant did as he was told

and to the monk returned,

elated that his penance was

a thing so quickly earned.

"Not yet," the old monk sternly said,

"Take up your bag once more

and gather up the feathers that

you placed at every door."

The peasant, eager to atone,

went hastening to obey,

no feathers met his sight, the wind

had blown them all away.

Margaret E. Bruner

We can never take back the gossip that we spread or the hurt we have caused.

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth comes praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be."  James 3:9