Rumours

“Hey mate, did you hear what Sally Hotstuff got up to with Jonny Hopeful at the party the other night? Well apparently bla, bla, bla, yadda, yadda, yadda.” Lola Loudmouth has launched another rumour rocket and this one is so good poor little Sally probably won’t recover. Wicked Lola can now sit back and watch it fly via word of mouth, mobile phone, MSN, email, Facebook, Twitter and so on. She can rest assured that her few seconds worth of malicious gossip will cause maximum shock, pain and awe because she knows it will spread far and wide.

Who knows what Sally and Jonny actually got up to? If the truth be known, they may have been outside discussing differential calculus. The truth? Who needs that? Certainly not Lola. She’s so jealous of Sally she just wants to bring her down a peg or two. Yeah, stretch the truth a bit. That’ll teach her a lesson. What a hoot!

But wait; does Lola deserve all the blame? What about the busy little bees who buzz about spreading the story? Without them, there is no rumour. But how were they to know the story wasn’t true? Here’s a thought. The bees could check the validity of the story? They could buzz around and ask a few other people what they saw. If Lola ends up being the only source of the juicy story, in a Christian community, the bees would keep their mouths shut. If after careful checking, the story seems to be true, the bees need to decide what possible good can come from spreading the story. If the answer to that question is “no good at all, only pain and humiliation”, then again in a Christian community I would suggest the story should not be told.

Whether it is intentional or not, most rumours hurt someone. They cause humiliation. They cause pain. They destroy reputations and lives. For these reasons, telling rumours about someone is considered harassment at the very least and at its worst it constitutes serious bullying. Rumours that are spread via national telecommunications networks (phones & Internet) may also be criminal depending on what is said. Rumours and those who spread them are negative elements that our community could well do without. Good people do not start or spread rumours.

Catholic Schools accept their role in educating students in Christian values and socially responsible behaviour. We are here to support parents in educating their children in the right way to live in relationship with others. We must work together to ensure that our children are taught to think for themselves and not just believe whatever they hear. We must work together to ensure that our children are taught why it is wrong to start or spread rumours. We must work together to ensure that our children are taught the value of always seeking and speaking the truth. Let’s work together as a community to eradicate rumours from our school. Let’s stop telling rumours or malicious stories about people!