gossip...

I hugged a friend with whom I'd unexpectedly crossed paths, as she said: "I was just talking about you..." and then added, quickly:  "It was all good stuff."

I had no response, as I hadn't assumed anything different.  Why would I assume the worst?  If I'm missing information, and left to imagine the holes filled even and sanded smooth, I assume the best, because it feels the best, and it vibrates the highest, and it's probably even the truth.  Why is it our default to assume the worst of one another, and to defend our third party information sharing with assurances of our good intent, as though to speak well of someone in their absence is an anomaly?

Maybe it has something to do with that third party information sharing habit that is our cultural pastime, which is itself caustic and destructive.  Gossip, hearsay - all that juicy, time-wasting, space-filling nonsense about so many absent others that may or may not be true - is wickedly viral and vicious in its spreading, pollinating lies and opinions passed off as empirical reality, as fact, through filters of individual wounds and issues and perspectives; sullying reputations, tarnishing the field, and eroding trust, community and friendship in its careless passing.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

                                                                            - Eleanor Roosevelt

Let us be great, shall we?  It's time.