Gossip-free

Hello www, I pray this day finds you well and content knowing you are in God's hands. :) My entry entitled "Infantile Shananigans," caused a great stir in certain circles and has left me thinking about gossip in a whole new way. I decided to go online and do some searches about gossip and came up with interesting results; everything from 'gossip is good,' to 'gossip is a sin.' (Gossiping is a good sin, lol. Kidding) Personally, I think gossip has the potential to be both. According to one article I read, it's sometimes good to gossip because, as this website http://www.lukeford.net/Dennis/indexp271.html, whose source is an 8/96 issue of Psychology Today states, "If people aren't talking about other people, it's a signal that something is wrong - that we feel socially alienated or indifferent," says Ralph Rosnow, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Temple University and coauthor of Rumor and Gossip: The Social Psychology of Hearsay. "For a real understanding of our social environment, gossip is essential," agrees Jack Levin, Ph.D., professor of sociology and criminology at Boston's Northeastern University and coauthor of Gossip: The Inside Scoop. "It's primary function is to help us make social comparisons. For example, ...(if we) get into the gruesome details of our neighbor's misery over a cup of coffee, our own problems begin to pale in comparison...Gossip is a way for people to let you know, without confrontation, the limits on personal behavior. If you move into a community and your neighbor tells you how the previous homeowner never disposed of his garbage properly, his gossip is letting you in on something else. Gossip shepherds the herd. It says: these are the boundaries and you're crossing them. You're not abiding by the rules and you'd better get back in step," says Rosnow." Interesting, huh? Then of course the reasons we gossip, taken from a PBS kids site, of all places! I liked the way PBS urges us to handle our children when we find out they gossip. I also think adults can benefit from what the kids site offers. Here's the site: http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/friends/rumors/article4.html Here are the reasons: to feel superior; to feel like part of a group; for attention; for control or power; out of jealousy or a need for revenge; out of boredom; Then I went to a Catholic website to find out what the Church teaches on gossip; http://www.catholicregister.org/content/view/965/141/ Before getting into what the bible teaches, I want to mention what the site says about gossiping specifically in the bible: "Gossip, however, is not one of the literary forms scholars find in their Bibles. Still, that doesn’t mean the Bible is unconcerned with how people talk about each other." And what does the bible say, pray tell? (no pun intended) "As people might expect, the Book of Proverbs has a great deal to say about the harm done by talking about other people. In Proverbs 2:12 gossip is a part of the “way of evil” we should keep away from; It (every good path) will save you from the way of evil, from those who speak perversely. False witness is presented as the sort of inevitable stock-in-trade of gossipers in Proverbs 21:28:“A false witness will perish, but a good listener will testify successfully.” Advice from Jesus Son of Sirach is to keep one’s mouth shut.“A bad name incurs shame and reproach; so it is with the double-tongued sinner” (Sirach 6:1)." The PBS site also gave some suggestions on how to avoid gossiping: Decide whether it’s hurtful or harmless. When you hear something about someone you know and have the urge to pass it on, don’t think about whether it’s true or not. Instead, ask yourself these questions: Why do I want to pass this on? Would I want people to know this kind of informationabout me? How will this person feel if he or she knew this rumor was being spread? Will this rumor reduce this person’s status or make him or her excluded from the group? Your answers will help you figure out the right thing to do. AND, Make the rumor stop with you; Don't be an audience; Be a peacemaker; Respect other's privacy; Get the facts; All rightie, then, I'm off to pratice my new attitude about rumor spreading... God bless, and may U2 become Gossip-free.