A man went about the community telling malicious stories about other people. Later, realizing the hurt and damage he had caused, he began to feel some remorse. So he went to the community rabbi for help in righting the wrong. The rabbi told the man, "Take a feather pillow, cut it open, and scatter the feathers to the four winds, and then come back to me”. The man thought this was a strange request, but it was a simple enough task, and he did it gladly.
When he returned to tell the rabbi that he had done as ordered, the rabbi waited 10 minutes then said, "Now, go back and gather together all the feathers, and mind you, make sure not even one feather is missing!
The man stared at the rabbi in disbelief. “That is impossible, Rabbi! "How am I to be expected to fetch all the feathers that went with the wind".
“Yes,” said the rabbi, and nodded gravely, “that is how it is: once a rumor, a juicy piece of gossip, a ‘secret,’ leaves your mouth, you do not know where it will end up, and you can never get it back.
Sergeant Gary Stein, a 26 year old Marine, was given an “other than honorable” discharge from the US Marines because of comments he posted on Facebook. Stein, who has spent all his years since high school graduation as a member of the marines, and has served in Iraq, was essentially fired "without benefits" on Wednesday.
Stein does not like the President(to say the least).And, Stein is the creator of the Armed Forces Tea Party page on Facebook, where he posted some of his strongly felt opinions about the President.
It would appear that in one of the more egregious comments (some would say, comments that reflect insubordination) Stein declared that he would not follow orders from the President that he considered illegal. And, that "Obama IS the enemy", and other similar comments.
In a related interview on msnbc.com, Stein regretted his posts, and wished he could take back some of the posts he had written. “People ask me, ‘Would you go back and change those words?’ I would most definitely,” Stein told msnbc.com. “I would articulate my point better.”
Of course his words cannot be taken back. Neither can anyone’s words be taken back, any more than feathers thrown into the wind, can all be picked up after they have blown away. In fact, this is why the responsibility of watching what we say is so important. For the full consequences of our words, especially words that are then put into print, can never be fully assessed.
Interestingly, engaging in idle chatter and gossip, is expressly forbidden in Jewish law. And an extensive program of repentance and personal redemption, was required of one that unfortunately did engage in this practice. One of the final stages in this lengthy process, required the “gossiper” to take two “pure birds” as an offering.
The sages of the Talmud address the possible reason for this particular step, and by doing so make a remarkably salient point that speaks volumes of human nature and psyche. The bird say the Talmudists, is a reminder to the sinner that this type of sin is the direct consequence of engaging in verbal ”twittering!” Not just evil or malicious gossip, mind you, but even the “garden variety” type of gossip that all too often leads to slander.
While contemporary society seems to have embraced all forms of "random communication" (i.e., "status updates" on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare et al), still the Torah wants us to know that there really are no “casual” or “random” gossip. We must concern ourselves with valuing and appreciating the true measure of all of our words.
It all boils down to this: we are endowed with a gift that no other creature is given: the ability to communicate by the spoken word. It is indeed a gift, but it is one that must be taken out and displayed carefully, and only for a truly beneficial use.
Jfogporpo wrote...