Hello folks! I've decided to post Wednesdays and Saturdays, and today I'm sooo happy to have a guest author for my blog!
Hi! My name is Keziah and Hannah is one of my best friends. We’ve known each other for about 2 years now, and when she asked me to do a guest post for her blog, I was thrilled!
My topic for this post is: Gossip.
A study showed that 80% of our conversations are spent gossiping. Out of 300 people, the study also showed that only about 5% of the gossip was malicious. Terrible, huh? I know. When I saw those stats, I almost flipped out. 80% of our conversations? Once you get thinking about it, though, you will probably recognize all the times you gossiped.
In case you aren't really sure WHAT gossip really is, or forgot, then I will refresh your memory. According to the dictionary, Gossip is:
"Casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true."
Gossip can hurt people, even if you aren't trying to hurt anyone. Gossiping, even though it may be fun and exciting to talk about, is not what we, as Christians, should practice.
I know that, as a victim of being gossiped about, that it hurts a LOT and it can make you lose trust in someone who you did trust, just days before. But just a couple words can destroy a friendship, hurt other people's feelings, or create distrust in someone. I know from my personal life that when someone else gossiped about me in a mean and unfeeling way, I felt angry and felt like I could no longer trust that person. And I couldn't.
And let me tell you something. Once someone loses trust in you, it takes you a long time to win their trust back. Even once you do win it back, they are always going to have a question at the back of their heads, wondering if they still can trust you. Believe me, I've been there. But just because someone else gossips to you, does not mean that you an gossip back. As females, gossiping is literally like second-nature to us. We can't seem to get enough of it and gossiping is so addicting and fun to talk about. Especially if it involves some cute couple in your school, or maybe about a boy that you heard likes you.
Even just talking about what you heard the teacher did after school is gossiping.
My fellow friend and gossiper- gossiping is a sin and hurts people. Often when people gossip, it is about secrets that they were charged to never tell anyone. And when they gossip about that, they are breaking the trust someone else had in them, to keep that promise safe. Even if gossiping makes you feel good, makes you popular, is fun, or anything else, it still is wrong.
So, let me encourage you, my dear friend, to not gossip. Because gossiping hurts and destroys relationships. Instead, next time you are with a group of friends and someone starts gossiping (let's just hope it's not you!), you have three choices.
1. Remove yourself from that group, while they gossip. It's easier to not gossip, when you are not around it.
2. Change the subject to something else. If you are talking about something else, you shouldn't have trouble gossiping!
3. Tell your friends that gossiping isn't right and that you think they should talk about something else. Once you know that your friends understand how you feel about gossiping, it's easier to tell them to stop.
I hope that this article has helped you understand a little more about why gossiping is so terrible and I hope that it inspires you to not gossip.
If you want to read more articles like this, then make sure to check out my blog at:
Cheers!
-Keziah <3