"I Don't Go to School Anymore...Because She Told Everyone Lies About Me"

We've all done it to a certain degree. If it was as little as saying 'What a freak' to 'Did you know that he...' it is still considered gossip. Although everyone does it, does that mean it's right?

Although gossip shall never die out, that does not mean you should cultivate the practice and keep it healthy. Many cultures accept gossip as a simple addition to conversation. Yet people do not see the trouble it brings to the victims.

There have been many cases of self mutilation, fractured self esteem and depression that resulted in being bashed by small drabble and slander.

When your reputation has dirt thrown upon it, your self confidence would be maimed.

An interviewed victim of this verbal abuse broke down and cried, "I don't go to school anymore...because she told everyone lies about me." This teenager, who would like to remain anonymous, had been an ambitious student who did well in her classes and had many aspirations to become a psychiatrist. Now, she states, "I'm working on getting my GED. Then I'll head for a community college." Unlike a great overreaction, this girl has been personally victimized by fellow classmates. Even on social networks like Myspace and Facebook, this young woman has dealt with verbal abuses. "I want you to tell people about this... I hate gossip. It's one of the worst kind of bullying...being in a fight would be better than having strangers think they know all of these things about you...when [they're] not true."

Gossip has no purpose other than to degrade and emotionally scar another person. Two wrongs do not make a right, yet people continue to believe it does. In the long run, it never benefits either party: the attacker nor the victim. It merely causes an emotional uproar.

"Stop saying things that aren't nice. There's more things to talk 'bout besides other people. You hardly hear people asking about the other person--it's always about someone they don't like."