LEND ME YOUR EARS

Gossip is wrong and hurtful. This is the simplest way the consequences of this almost insignificant word can be summed up. It is irresistible? I know. Whatever is being said about that person is true? Possible. People need to be made aware of this person? Your concern is appreciated. But where do all these put you? If you are not treated like a mystic or kowtowed for warning mankind about the many vices of the Ursalas or Scars around us, chances are you are being gossiped about too. Hurts, doesn't it? After everything you have done, risking your flawless reputation, pulling yourself down to the level of petty talkers, it is you who gets the label of “ultimate talebearer” pinned on your back. While you should not gossip in the first place (Even if you truly believe you know what sort of place procured that precious object everyone is ogling at, why ask and later embarrass the poor being? This does not put you in the right either), here are certain rules that might ameliorate your status as a tattletale. 

The first rule of gossip is don't gossip. To put it even more succinctly, do not talk about other people's current affairs. There is a whole world out there creating wonders as you sit with your legs crossed, resting your face on your hand and observing, inspecting that pair of shoes or that new radiant, curious smile on that always-passive face. But if the pull of it is irresistibly strong, how about you muster some self-respect and love for humanity and talk about it in a more subtle manner. Being very specific will only lead you to be gossiped about too.

Secondly, rein in that temptation. I understand how that small incident in the morning needs to be laughed about to help you survive the long day. But imagine yourself in those shoes. Imagine being insulted by the teacher for asking a terribly stupid question or for passing an inconsiderate remark on a poor soul because you are not in your right sense of mind since morning. Now imagine overhearing a group of insensitive teasers extracting the fun, wringing the thrill out of your fiasco. Don't you just want to punch them in the face? Curl up in a corner and cry your heart out? Say something so mean that would leave a scar on their minds forever? That is exactly how all your victims have felt.

If scandals breathe life into your almost insentient days at the university, make sure you tone it down a bit. A better idea would be to invest your energy on other things, like what the world is talking about at the moment. This might actually help you to wreak vengeance in a more sophisticated manner on that parochial diminutive being who created tales about you. A glorious future in the literary world may await them but a little sensitivity never hurt anybody.