Dealing with the effects of gossip can be a daunting trial. But every day millions upon millions of people, regardless of their social class or age, find themselves having to deal with the effects of this sinister force. The degree to which each person among these millions will be affected by gossip varies. In light to moderate cases, the effects of the gossiper(s) usually go away quite quickly, especially if the one about whom the gossip has been hurled—ignores it... that is, if they even know of it; nonetheless, it doesn’t discard the accountability of the wrong of those who started the gossip or of those who participated in it.

But what of those ones whose reputations have been destroyed by a more sinister force of gossip? How do they get their reputations back? Or do they? When gossip is taken to a more destructive level of evil, not only are the people about whom gossip is being directed painfully wounded and irreparably damaged, but each person connected to them—parents, siblings, relatives, spouses, children, grandchildren, friends, and acquaintances—all suffer. The book of Proverbs speaks of this wounding thusly: The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. -Proverbs 18:8 (KJV)

What is a talebearer? A talebearer is a malicious person, a person who entertains his or herself by indulging in cowardly, accusatory mutterings of others, usually slanderous in nature. He or she, the talebearer, most always knows to whom they can bear their tales and get an emotional reaction, for it is the “thrill of the secret power of gossip ” for which they’re looking. Once this is accomplished, the talebearer, and those participating in it, must try to meet, or supersede, the thrill of that “first” emotional reaction; hence the creation of the vicious circle. But there’s another secret that comes into play regarding the talebearer(s) and their parties, and it is this:


This is where gossip’s destructive forces not only taint, and possibly destroy, the reputations of their victims but destroy, in due time, the one(s) who started the gossip as well as the ones who participated in it. The book of Galatians addresses this matter in this manner: But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. -Galatians 5:15 (KJV)



Attributions :

Turkish proverb from Oneliners & Proverbs

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