Visitation
of Our Lady Church
3500 Ames Blvd.
Marrero, LA 70072
photo by christie bourg
(Continued from front cover)
laughing as I use my mouth as a weapon to damage
someone else.
A little more than ten years ago, the Wall Street
Journal published the following message. It’s titled,
“The Snake that Poisons Everybody.”
It topples government, wrecks marriages, ruins
careers and busts reputations. It causes heartaches,
nightmares and indigestion. It spawns suspicion and
generates grief. It dispatches innocent people to cry in
their pillows. Even its name HISSES. It’s called
GOSSIP. Office gossip, petty gossip and party gossip
make headlines and headaches. Before you repeat a
story, ask yourself these questions. It is true? Is it fair?
Is it NECESSARY? The answer, of course, is a
resounding NO. It is never okay for my words to become
the bullets that damage, perhaps destroy, someone else.
Do I tell myself that my gossip is so tame no one
could ever be harmed? If I do, I’m thinking foolishly.
Gossip is subjective. I may think what I say couldn’t
possibly harm anyone. But my victim is a different
person, and he or she may be devastated by what I
think is trivial. For example, the Center for Disease
Control says attempted teens suicides have increased
more than twenty percent. The cause? Gossip!
Much of it is online. And, much of it is thought of as
just “harmless fun” by the gossipers.
But, listen up. Whether the gossiper is a teen
or an adult, whether the gossip is done online or over
the water cooler, we should stop doing it. We should
listen to Pope Francis. Gossip is never harmless fun.
Gossip is always a weapon, and sometimes it is
deadly.
Gossip ruins our souls. Gossip is the snake
that poisons everyone.