| 12:09a |
Can gossip and truth be the same thing?
Lately, when I work at Ye Olde Department Store, I have been hearing lots of juicy gossip. Sometimes, the gossip is funny, and sometimes, it's true. But today, one of my YODS friends told me something about another YODS worker that really shocked me. I don't know who is telling me the truth- the person who told me the story, or the person who I thought I knew well.
I'm the first to admit that I love a good goss session. I'm always reading celebrity gossip sites. And in my own life, it's always interesting to hear about how those I know can present themselves differently to others. However, I always underestimate how destructive gossip can be. Now that I have heard this rumour about my YODS friend, I don't know if I can treat them in the same way any more. I think the rumour might be true, because this friend of mine has been known to do other similar, silly things. I don't know what I prefer- to know the truth, or to have a cheerful, ignorant friendship.
I was thinking about the various rumours circulating at YODS, and I realised that when you take the people and the contexts away, they just sound like regular, boring rumours that do the rounds in any workplace. Or in any place where a bunch of people meet, actually.
Here are the latest YODS rumours:
> Someone A is a goody-goody
> Someone B is probably clinically crazy
> Someone C sleeps around and leads people on
> Someone D is gay
> Someone E is actually really nasty and bitchy
> Someone F is moody at work, but super-friendly when out
> Someone G is a party animal
> Someone H spends all of their salary on designer clothes
> Someone I has eaten at a fancy restaurant and then run away to avoid paying the bill
See what I mean? Fascinating, but also cliched.
One of the main things I think of when I hear a juicy bit of gossip is this Bible verse:
"The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts." Proverbs 26:22
Gossip always seems irresistable and satisfying, but it sticks inside of us. It sticks like a swallowed piece of chewing-gum- you remember the rumour every time you see the person.
I don't know if there is any solution to bad gossip. I know that you can say, "Don't tell me, I don't want to know!", but what if it's true? What if the person telling the story is trying to protect you? I know that I have told people things so that I can warn them about what someone is really like. And also, it feels so good to find out bad things about someone you don't like.
My personal solution is to pray...to pray that God will show me who the real person I'm dealing with is, away from all the gossip. And that I will be both open-minded and wary. I think it would also be good if I prayed for the person who is supposedly doing silly things. I'll need to remember that next time I see them. |