Gossip
A woman repeated a bit of gossip about a neighbor.
Within a few days the whole community knew the story. The
person it concerned was deeply hurt and offended. Later the
woman responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it
was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a
wise old sage to find out what she could do to repair the
damage.
"Go to the marketplace," he said, "and purchase a
chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pluck
its feathers and drop them one by one along the road."
Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she
was told.
The next day the wise man said, "Now go and collect all
those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to
me."
The woman followed the same road, but to her dismay,
the wind had blown the feathers all away. After searching
for hours, she returned with only three in her hand. "You
see," said the old sage, "it's easy to drop them, but it's
impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It
doesn't take much to spread a rumor, but once you do, you
can never completely undo the wrong."
***************************
Sometimes what we say about another person will affect the
friendship
between that person and his friends. Though we may just be passing
on a
remark as to what others have said, you will be surprise that it
does have
an effects on that person and on the friends around him. So, think
before
you speak. Remember words can KILL!