LIFE LESSON

Gossip was the topic of Sue's News for several days.  Below is an article from 2011 that was a response at that time to the Church Gossip article.


                           LIFE LESSON

A friend from work and I were talking during break and I admit, I told a few tidbits of gossip and he suddenly interrupted and said, "I'm going to tell you why I don't gossip any more." 

He told me about two couples he knew who were best friends, socialized together, vacationed together, and had godchildren in common. He referred to the two couples as Couple Number One and Couple Number Two.  The husband of Couple Number One was out of town on business and the husband of Couple Number Two was in town at work and when he went to leave work, his transmission malfunctioned. His home was forty-five miles away. He called Triple A, tried to find a place to fix the transmission, attempted to arrange to find a rental car, but, all to no avail in our small town. 

He called the home of Couple Number Two to see if he could stay at their home. The wife of Couple Number Two said "Of course!" and she picked him up at his place of work. The husband of Couple Number One called his wife and told her what was going on; she told him she would come to pick him up, but the wife of Couple Number Two said that was just so silly since she could take him to work the next day and she could get the car into a garage and he could get a rental car, if needed. 

That night, the husband of Couple Number One stayed at the home of Couple Number Two, sleeping on the couch. He wore pajamas of the husband of Couple Number Two as the wife of Couple Number Two insisted on laundering his clothes to wear the next day.  The next morning, before breakfast, the doorbell rang and the husband of Couple Number One thought nothing of answering the door; the next door neighbor, knowing the husband of Couple Number Two was out of town, came to check, as he had noticed the late-night activities. 

Within days, the gossip rapidly spread about the husband of Couple Number One coming to the door in pajamas and bathrobe while the husband of Couple Number Two was out of town and it caused a great deal of suspicion, whispers, innuendo, finger-pointing, rumors, gossip, especially within the church that both the next-door neighbor and Couple Number Two attended.  Eventually, Couple Number Two learned of the evil circulating about them and both couples had to deal with the hurt caused to the two families.

Then my friend asked me, "What would you have thought about that situation?"  I answered, "I would have thought that there was a good reason why the best friend was staying overnight at his best friend's house."  He said, "Well, I think you're in the minority."

I asked, "What did you think about it?"  He answered, "I AM the husband of Couple Number One and I had to deal with the lies about myself and the wife of my best friend and it hurt them more than it did me and my wife but that's why I don't gossip anymore!"