Gossip, like bullying, is a very painful weapon.
As an adult, I’m still getting kicked in the teeth by gossips. As an adult, gossip makes me nauseated. I want to come out swinging, to correct the record. To defend myself.
As an adult, gossip hurts my feelings and still makes me cry sometimes — especially when the nastiness and half-truths come from people who claim they are our friends.
This a lesson to our children that they are not babies just because they get upset by maliciousness. We all get upset at any age. Words can be very hurtful.
There is no wonder why our children suffer so much by hateful words. Kids are still maturing. Their abilities to let things roll off is practically non-existent. How can we teach them to overcome the painful emotions when we, ourselves, continue to struggle with it?
Gossip can be especially potent when it is guised as concern. Half-truths are confusing. Kids have a hard time interpreting reality as it is, let alone when the reality is couched in falsehoods. Heck, we all have a hard time with that.
One of the best lessons we can teach our children is to identify gossip and to not participate in it. If you have questions about what you heard, go straight to the source. Avoid third-party interventions.
We need to teach our children to be direct, to get the story straight. Gossip is repeating third-hand information. It’s wrong. It’s hurtful. It’s damaging.
But that’s just what I heard.
Luckily, Patch can only censor their own site, not the entire internet. http://www.gossipandvice.com/tag/aol/ http://www.framingham.com/patch/
Since when have we become everyone's keeper?
Oddly enough, our kids have just recently noticed that no one is ever really out and they always ask why no one knows when the weather is good. Ha! Their idea is that if there isn't a total thunderstorm, surely you should be outside. ; ) They get that from their dad, not their AC-loving mom!
That is why I gave you phrases to search, which you still have not done. You can discount the 2 links I provided you all you want, but they are still a sampling from the phrases I posted for you to search on your own, and of the experiences that others have had with Patch and their 'style' of gossip=news. Frankly, your inability to check a search engine on your own, and instead rely on only 2 links provided to you, is exactly why Patch thinks there is a market for gossip. They seem to be able to count on people just believing what they read, without going off on their own to verify it.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=AOL+Patch+Problems
The Church's reluctance was because of the loss of valuable dollars, this site runs on advertising dollars and many articles are presented here to get a response and to promote conversation (GOSSIP) and drive people to this site. See the irony? The Patch is loving this.
"considering your post here and what you said about the Catholic Church in a previous post, you should be the last one making claims about gossip. It's really quite amusing to me." No worries, have a great day.
Not saying Drew is innocent or guilty. Just saying that is this the kind of evidence we want our courts to be judging people on in the future.