The Gossip Test …A Great Moral Story
One day an acquaintance met a great philosopher and said, Do you know what I just heard about your friend?
“Hold on a minute”, the philosopher replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. Its called the Triple Filter Test”.
“Triple filter?”
“That’s right,” the philosopher 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. So you don’t really know if its true or not. Now lets 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, the philosopher continued, you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain its 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 the philosopher, if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”
Moral: Be sure to take your words before you spit them out and check if what you are saying is truthful, good and useful. If not it’s pure gossip only intended to make yourself feel more powerful.
You’ve just read, The Gossip Test. Why not read Lady Accidentally Farts In A Car Showroom.