psst

The game of broken telephone seems pretty harmless at first and can warrant such hilarious and charming effects that it seems more like a fun activity than anything actually harmful. For example, the party game played when a young couple invited their closest friends out to dinner on a whim. "What is the occasion?" everyone demanded of their friends Rodney and Elaine. The couple simply told their friends that it was an opportunity to get everyone together after such a long absence. Gathered around the table, a wave of whispers began sweeping the party. Somebody turned to his neighbour and whispered, "Rodney and Elaine are having a baby; pass it on". Surely Michael did. And Jennifer and Paul did, as did Wanda and Slevin until the news had spread completely around the table. Rodney rose to give a toast to everyone gathered inevitably in his honour and Elaine's as well because they were indeed having a child, even though the last person in the chain of whispers was quoted as saying "Rodney and Elaine are pregnant with an alien baby named Akira!" It was a touching occasion and prime example of broken telephone.

As we grow older, the stakes get higher and gossip often turns into malicious rumour, potentially damaging a person's reputation forever. Suddenly the game of broken telephone can result in somebody supposedly having an affair with a married man or being assumd a thief, stealing work supplies or the like. Gossip is fun; there is no doubt about that. As entertaining as it is to gab about celebrities, it is even more delicious to gab about those closest around you and so-called SPREAD THE GOSS'. Broken telephone can be really damaging though, so it is best kept to your best friends...the tight-lipped one anyways.

Now slow down people. I know what you're thinking. You could be wondering what in my life triggered this word of caution or "word to the wise" as they call it. And well thankfully it is nothing. I just felt compelled to write a little contemplation on the act of gossip. Even some of the greatest figures in history have been gossipped about, reducing their important lives to mere tittle-tattle. It makes one wonder what about gossip is so appealing anyways.

Maybe gossip is so appealing to us because at the core of spreading a rumour is simply telling a story, or re-telling it that is. We live to tell stories, making sense of our lives and those around us along the way. Michael Ondaatje, in his autobiography "Running in the Family" is largely preoccupied with his crazy aunts that gossip a lot and tell the same stories repeatedly. He claims that "[n]o story is ever told just once... We will return to it an hour later and re-tell the story with additions and this time a few judgments thrown in. In this way history is organized." Ondaatje is right; that is how history is organized. Hearsay and rumour blended together with truth and finally told through a biased lens. It reminds me how many stories there are circling in the world and raises the question, "Is a story any less powerful just because it isn't true?"