The Vizsla Newzsletter (Jun / Jul 1998)
Tails and Tales

When I was a wee tyke my father told me this about a friend of his.

It seemed that one day, Stanley (my father's friend) had tried to do a favour for a neighbour. The neighbour was having a problem with a dog in the neighbourhood. The dog would come into his yard at night and generally misbehave. Trash cans got knocked over, roses got pulled out, all the things that dogs do.

Well, Stanley hadn't seen who's dog it was but he remembered that someone had said that they thought that the dog the Lindel's had was a mean and mangy mutt. Of course, Stanley had to tell the neighbour that the Lindel's dog was the one doing it, after all, that was the neighbourly thing to do. Let me tell you, the Lindel's didn't take the news well. There was this huge fight and lots of problems. To this day, the two families are not talking to each other.

That was bad enough but lo and behold, Stanley found out that what he was told was not correct. He was in a dilemma about what to do so he went down and talked to the Rabbi and asked him how to correct this wrong. "Easy" said the Rabbi. "Take this pillow up to the mountain, open the case and spread the feathers to the wind."

Stanley didn't see how this was going to help but 1) the Rabbi was old and wise and 2) what was it going to hurt?. Stanley went up the mountain to the very top where he could see the world beneath him. He opened up the pillow case and the feathers flew all over. Mission accomplished.

Back to the Rabbi he went and when he got there he told the Rabbi what he had done. "I did like you said, I opened the case and the feathers went all over. I don't see how that helps but it is done." "Good", the Rabbi said "but that is just the first part of the solution." "What do you want me to do now?" Stanley asked. "Return to the mountain and gather up all the feathers from the pillow and return them to the pillow case" replied the Rabbi. "That's impossible" Stanley shouted, "I will never be able to get all the feathers".

"And so is it with gossip" the Rabbi replied. "What we say affects many and in many different ways. When asked for an answer, answer with knowledge you know not gossip and opinions that you have heard." I guess my father was trying to teach me a lesson with this story. I know now what harm gossip can do and how impossible it is to correct the damage it does.