Gossip
Illustration★★★★There is a legend of a peasant with a troubled conscience who went to the village priest for advice. The peasant had repeated some slander about a friend and later he had found that his words were untrue. He asked the priest what he could do to make amends. The priest told the man: “If you want to make peace with your conscience, you must fill a bag with goose feathers and go to every door in the village and drop a feather on each porch.” The peasant took a bag, filled it with goose feathers, and did as he was told. Then he went back to the priest and asked: “Is this all “That surprises me; I have never done him a favor.”
The point
A peasant seeks advice after spreading slander, is told to drop goose feathers on every door, then asked to collect them—impossible. The lesson: once spread, words of gossip cannot be fully gathered back. Convicting on the power of speech.