June 19, 2017
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Gossip
Once upon a time, a man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the neighbor was arrested. Days later the neighbor was proven innocent. After being released, he sued his accuser for wrongfully accusing him.
In court, the accuser told the judge, "They were just comments and didn't harm anyone."
The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the accuser, "Write all the things you said about your neighbor on a piece of paper. Cut it up into little pieces and on the way home throw the pieces of paper out your car window. Tomorrow come back to hear the sentence."
The next day the judge told the accuser, "Before receiving the sentence, I want you to go out and gather up all of the pieces of paper that you threw out the car window yesterday."
The accuser said, "I can't do that! The wind spread them all over the place and I won't know where to find them."
The judge replied, "The same way that simple words and comments may destroy the honor of a person to such an extent that a person may not be able to fix it. If you can't speak well of someone, don't say anything at all." Let's all be masters of our mouths so that we won't be slaves of our words.
Gossips are worse than thieves because they steal another person's dignity, honor, reputation and credibility, which are impossible to restore. So remember this. When your feet slip, you can always recover your balance, but when your tongue slips, you can never recover your words.
