Gossip

Gossip sells — just take a look at the news-rags that accost you leaving the grocery store. Pure gossip. As someone in my Sunday School class noted, we have an entire industry built upon gossip. And we eat it up. It’s like the novelist Joseph Conrad wrote, “Gossip is what no one claims to like, but everyone enjoys.”

In a nation that reports to be highly spiritual, we fail when it comes to one of the more simple tests of virtue. Erma Bombeck had it right: “Some say our national pastime is baseball. Not me. It’s gossip.” A spirituality that is compatible with gossip is like saying motor oil is compatible with water. The two simply don’t mix. The New Testament book of James puts it plainly: “If people think they are religious and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.”

Two weeks ago I went to Gypsy Cab for lunch (I love their Bahamian chowder). It was crowded and, since I was alone, I sat at the bar where, I discovered, an acquaintance of mine was also eating. He finished his meal before me and returned to work. After he left, I overheard a man at the other end of the bar saying unkind things about my acquaintance, which may have been true — but this is beside the point.

The man was gossiping. He was trying to use information to injure and slight my acquaintance. Each word was a knife in the back of the man’s reputation. I felt caught between a rock and a hard place. Do I say something to the man — or not? I was, after all, eavesdropping. I decided not to say anything — and this I regret.

All of the great world religions underscore the importance of not gossiping. The Buddha explained that right speech is necessary for a sound morality. He stated that people should abstain from slanderous speech and not use words maliciously against others. A fundamental of Hindu and Yogic ethics is the practice of satya: conscious consideration of what you say, how you say it, and how it affects others. And Judaism, in the book of Leviticus says, “You shall not go around as slanderer among your people.”

We have all gossiped. We have all listened to gossip. But at what price? Gossip and slander eat away at our goodness—and perhaps even our health. It is suggested that Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, goes so far as to say that people will be held accountable for every careless word they speak.

What ought the spiritual response to gossip be? How should the religious/spiritual man or woman respond to gossip? We must learn to carefully choose our words when talking about people. And we must summon our courage to stop gossip when we hear gossip. After all, we might just save our own reputations.