Let no one be willing to speak ill of the absent.
Sextus Propertius
**********************
Hello Geo
***********************
I was in rehearsal for a play and during a break I walked into the Green Room (the actor's lounge). Just as I did one of the actors was talking about someone and he instantly stopped in mid sentence. There were some blushing faces, one person became immediately involved in a magazine, the fellow who had been talking was staring at the floor sheepishly.
I sat down and said "So, I walked into a conversation about myself and now everyone here is embarrassed except for me." There was silence. Then I said "I'm flattered that you think I'm important enough to gossip about." More silence, so I changed the subject and got people talking again.
Over the years I worked with two radio announcers who delighted in making fun of other people. They would tell the most damaging and derogatory jokes about someone or other which they would never repeat to that person's face. Their comments were very funny and people laughed. I wondered if those people would laugh if the joke was about them.
I find that kind of humor despicable. It's degrading, cruel, malignant and ignorant. It's the sort of humor that's rampant on some TV talk shows these days, which is why I won't watch them.
I can laugh at myself, but I don't need to be told what's funny about me, unless it's from a good friend who does it with love and respect. And if someone makes jokes about me behind my back he's not a friend, no matter how friendly he may appear to my face.
One day in New Hampshire a fellow got invited into my home for a day, asked me all sorts of questions about me and my life, seemed to be very impressed and interested and we genuinely had a good time together, I thought. Then I heard from someone else that he went back to the city and was spreading all kinds of rumors about me by twisting around the things I told him. He thinks I have forgotten him and his name. I haven't.
It's a terrible thing to be the victim of a laughing gossiper. It's even worse if you find yourself being one, just to get the laughs.
Those two announcers both got fired because they made the wrong joke, about the wrong person, at the wrong time. But, alas, they took the mouths they couldn't watch with them.
DB - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
*********************
AUTUMN QUESTION
What event over the past year changed your life, a lot or a little?
Only 4 answers so far.
dbdacoba@aol.com
I await your answers.
DB
********************
Showing posts with label gossip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gossip. Show all posts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Rainbows And Roses
To utter harsh words when sweet ones would serve is like eating unripe fruit when ripe ones are at hand.
Tirukkural
*****************
Hello Anna Regina Guyana
********************
Speak gently, it is better far
To rule by love than fear;
Speak gently: let no harsh word mar
The good we may do here.
Speak gently to the erring: know
They must have toiled in vain;
Perchance unkindness made them so;
O win them back again.
Speak gently: 'tis a little thing,
Dropped in the heart's deep well;
The good, the joy that it may bring,
Eternity shall tell.
(G. W. Langford)
___________________
There were three people in the room, two men and one woman, when I walked through the door. One of the men was saying "Well, I think he...." He stopped abruptly when he saw me. The woman became very red faced. I sat down and said "So, I walked into a conversation about myself and now everyone here is embarrassed except for me."
It's one of natures laws that if we bad mouth people behind their backs sooner or later we'll be caught at it. It is better to stay out of gossip and avoid the trap. As an old saying has it "A closed mouth gathers no feet."
Some people think I go through life seeing only rainbows and roses and don't look at or see the darker, uglier side of things. But I have just as much right as any one else to rage, weep and harshly judge people for the rotten things they've done to me. There are some people and some things that are near impossible to forgive. In fact, I forgive as much as I can and then just don't think about the rest of it. To carry around resentment in one's heart is a sickness.
Given the fact that everything we do has an effect on the world, to one degree or another, an effect we usually can't measure or maybe can't even know about. it is vital that we be alarmed at ourselves for sending out the words, the impressions or even the thoughts of brutality and wrath.
On the other hand the sweet, ripe fruit is always available. The good words and thoughts cast into the heart's well can bring effects for which we can be proudly responsible. But positive thinking is a habit, it requires discipline and humility and it's not for the mentally lazy. It has to be developed and it begins with denial, to refuse to accept into one's thoughts the negatives, like a baseball pitcher refusing the signals from his catcher "No. Not that one. I won't do that." Then hearing and accepting into your thoughts the right words, words of praise, approval, appreciation, love. You won't see rainbows and roses all the time, but you'll see them more often.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
:
Tirukkural
*****************
Hello Anna Regina Guyana
********************
Speak gently, it is better far
To rule by love than fear;
Speak gently: let no harsh word mar
The good we may do here.
Speak gently to the erring: know
They must have toiled in vain;
Perchance unkindness made them so;
O win them back again.
Speak gently: 'tis a little thing,
Dropped in the heart's deep well;
The good, the joy that it may bring,
Eternity shall tell.
(G. W. Langford)
___________________
There were three people in the room, two men and one woman, when I walked through the door. One of the men was saying "Well, I think he...." He stopped abruptly when he saw me. The woman became very red faced. I sat down and said "So, I walked into a conversation about myself and now everyone here is embarrassed except for me."
It's one of natures laws that if we bad mouth people behind their backs sooner or later we'll be caught at it. It is better to stay out of gossip and avoid the trap. As an old saying has it "A closed mouth gathers no feet."
Some people think I go through life seeing only rainbows and roses and don't look at or see the darker, uglier side of things. But I have just as much right as any one else to rage, weep and harshly judge people for the rotten things they've done to me. There are some people and some things that are near impossible to forgive. In fact, I forgive as much as I can and then just don't think about the rest of it. To carry around resentment in one's heart is a sickness.
Given the fact that everything we do has an effect on the world, to one degree or another, an effect we usually can't measure or maybe can't even know about. it is vital that we be alarmed at ourselves for sending out the words, the impressions or even the thoughts of brutality and wrath.
On the other hand the sweet, ripe fruit is always available. The good words and thoughts cast into the heart's well can bring effects for which we can be proudly responsible. But positive thinking is a habit, it requires discipline and humility and it's not for the mentally lazy. It has to be developed and it begins with denial, to refuse to accept into one's thoughts the negatives, like a baseball pitcher refusing the signals from his catcher "No. Not that one. I won't do that." Then hearing and accepting into your thoughts the right words, words of praise, approval, appreciation, love. You won't see rainbows and roses all the time, but you'll see them more often.
DB - The Vagabond
************************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
Come on. 11 diverse and interesting answers so far. Where's yours?
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
:
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Light We Share
A man must be like a great brilliant flame and burn as brightly as he can.
Boris Yeltsin
*****************
Hello Burns Lake, British Columbia
******************
I go down the sidewalk with uncertain steps but with a certain destination aware that I am trekking along one of the ledges of the universe. The universe is a big immeasurable place and I am part of it. And so are you.
Like all the suns, planets and moons I have my place and my orbit. And so do you. Without you and me the universe would be incomplete. and therefore not universal.
You and I don't make the papers and the nightly news. We hear all about the "stars," the famous people; who's in jail, who got out, who got married, who got divorced, who wore what on the beach, who got hired and who is selling his mansion. One should never be fooled by fame. Most of that information is important only to those in the news or the gossip hungry. The gossip, the mundane news about us is unimportant to the world.
The standard greeting in my town is "How ya doin>" It takes the place of Hello, Hi, Good Morning and all the other usual greetings. If anyone stops to talk it's usually small talk, the gracious chit chat that neighborhoods are made of. And we tend to forget that each one of us carries inside the light of the universe.
We all know people who seem to carry that light with them wherever they go. They spill spirit, excitement, positive energy in all directions whatever they are doing. Like a torch they will ignite those qualities in the people around them. Those are the real stars of the universe.
It may be the woman down the street with four kids, the high school history teacher, the little league coach, the girl behind the counter at the pharmacy, the man who fixes your car, the man who fixes your teeth, the kid in glasses who just designed a physics demonstration for her school or the man walking uncertainly down the sidewalk. There is someone around who carries the fire which lights up your own.
The fire may be borrowed but the fuel is not. Excitement, enthusiasm, a sense of wonder, an appreciation for the beautiful and the great are with you all the time ready to burst into radiance when touched by the living flame of the universe.
It doesn't matter how many times that fuel needs to be ignited, one day it will burn as brightly as it can, stay aflame, freely spill it's light in all directions and inspire those around you.
DB - The Vagabond
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Never Give Up
*********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
6 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Boris Yeltsin
*****************
Hello Burns Lake, British Columbia
******************
I go down the sidewalk with uncertain steps but with a certain destination aware that I am trekking along one of the ledges of the universe. The universe is a big immeasurable place and I am part of it. And so are you.
Like all the suns, planets and moons I have my place and my orbit. And so do you. Without you and me the universe would be incomplete. and therefore not universal.
You and I don't make the papers and the nightly news. We hear all about the "stars," the famous people; who's in jail, who got out, who got married, who got divorced, who wore what on the beach, who got hired and who is selling his mansion. One should never be fooled by fame. Most of that information is important only to those in the news or the gossip hungry. The gossip, the mundane news about us is unimportant to the world.
The standard greeting in my town is "How ya doin>" It takes the place of Hello, Hi, Good Morning and all the other usual greetings. If anyone stops to talk it's usually small talk, the gracious chit chat that neighborhoods are made of. And we tend to forget that each one of us carries inside the light of the universe.
We all know people who seem to carry that light with them wherever they go. They spill spirit, excitement, positive energy in all directions whatever they are doing. Like a torch they will ignite those qualities in the people around them. Those are the real stars of the universe.
It may be the woman down the street with four kids, the high school history teacher, the little league coach, the girl behind the counter at the pharmacy, the man who fixes your car, the man who fixes your teeth, the kid in glasses who just designed a physics demonstration for her school or the man walking uncertainly down the sidewalk. There is someone around who carries the fire which lights up your own.
The fire may be borrowed but the fuel is not. Excitement, enthusiasm, a sense of wonder, an appreciation for the beautiful and the great are with you all the time ready to burst into radiance when touched by the living flame of the universe.
It doesn't matter how many times that fuel needs to be ignited, one day it will burn as brightly as it can, stay aflame, freely spill it's light in all directions and inspire those around you.
DB - The Vagabond
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Never Give Up
*********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
6 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
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