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Meanness and office gossip
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Maybe it is because I am a lover of mankind and a peacekeeper, but a New York Times article from November 2nd caught my attention. The article, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/science/03tier.html?_r=1&th&emc=th was about a study done by the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. (Ethnology is a branch of anthropology that examines individual cultures.) Rather than a report about a distant tribe, this study occurred at an unnamed, Midwestern elementary school. A researcher was present for two years, with teachers, with consent.
The results were expected. People gossip about others and it is worse, akin to a snowball rolling downhill, when the targeted person is absent. It can get brutal unless someone intercedes. I guess the old adage is true; a person in motion tends to remain in motion. A person at rest tends to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. (Okay, I admit to altering Sir Isaac Newton's theory on motion.)
Often it takes just one person to stand up for the gossip victim or to change the subject. We all know gossip is hurtful with little benefit except to boost ourselves by stepping on others. I want everyone to like me so it hurts me when others are discussed in negative manners.
I'll quote two wonderful women. First is my mother, God Bless her, at 88 years of wisdom and love. "How would you like it if someone did that to you?"
The other quote comes from the late Eleanor Roosevelt, who was married to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people."
Enough said. Follow the course that your heart and mind tell you is fair, honest and professional.
Finally, I will quote myself as retired a martial art (Jujitsu) instructor. "Do what is right. Avoid what is wrong."
