MooOb
|
Words ... words ... words ... - 18/06/2008 07:50
"There was once a man who loved to gossip. He loved the attention it brought him, and could not stop himself from speaking about others, sometimes sharing the good they did, but most often sharing the mistakes they made.
"In time, however, he realized the harm his speech was causing and he sought to make amends. He went to his rabbi and explained the situation, and asked how he could make amends.
"The rabbi thought for a moment and instructed the man to go to the marketplace and purchase two of the finest feather pillows he could find. He should then take the pillows to the top of the mountain overlooking the village, tear them open, and spill the feathers into the wind.
"The man was surprised and pleased at the rabbi's advice. He thought repentance would be much harder than this. So he ran to the marketplace, purchased his pillows, and within an hour had scatter their feathers to the wind.
"He returned to the rabbi all aglow. He was ready to be forgiven for his gossiping. Not just yet, the rabbi told him. There was one more thing to do. He had to return to the mountain and repack the pillows with the feathers that he had scattered.
"'But that's impossible,' the man said. 'Those feathers have gone everywhere, there is no way I can take them back now.'"
"The rabbi nodded solemnly and said, 'What is true of the feathers is true of the words. Once spoke they can never be retrieved. The harm caused by gossip cannot be undone.'"
(Rabbi Rami Shapiro, from The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness)
The way we speak of others, whether we build them up or tear them down, does make an unretractable impact. More often than not, we have a tendency to speak just for the sake of speaking, without paying close attention to the words we say or realizing the impact they might have. What a service we do ourselves and our world when we commit to speaking only those words that are true, kind, and absolutely necessary.
(Kate Novak)
|
บ้านนอก|เครือข่ายพุทธิกา
