Testing for Gossip...

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

"Hold on a minute", Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right", Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No,",the man said, "Actually I just heard about it and ..."

"All right", said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary."

"So", Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well", concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

How many times have we used our mouth to destroy relationships through the passing along of unverified details. How many times have we sat and condemned people without hearing or being sure to verify and check for the truth we have heard. Even I, am guilty of it.

The effect of tale telling are covered in length in the bible. A few examples are Prov 8:18, 20:19, 26:20; Matt 12:36, 2 Timothy 2:16. As I sat and read a few of these passages, it made me realise how carelessly I use my tongue and how silence at times is the key. So this week, as well as for this month; we at letas2juliet are throwing out a challenge on putting everything that comes through our mouth for the month of September through this test. We ask that you write in and let us know how well you do and how difficult or easy it was. We will also be sure to keep you updated on how the team is doing.

We want to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all our readers as this month makes it two years for their commitment so far and we make a promise that its only going to get better.