Rumors Make High School Difficult

Oftentimes we say something without even thinking about the consequences it can have on us. Even more often, we say things without thinking about the consequences it can have one somebody else. 

While this happens among adults as well, rumor-spreading is more common in middle and high school. It is something that pretty much comes with the “high school experience”. However, people rarely stop to think about how what they say affects the person they are talking about.

A lot of times, the rumor is not at all true or only partially true, but when we hear something bad about someone we don’t like, we are bound to repeat it. We don’t go talk to that person and ask them about it. We just assume that it is true because it does not affect us.

Even when a rumor turns out to be true, it is not our place to turn around and tell the whole world that person’s business. If that person is doing something that could get them hurt or in trouble, an adult should be told, not the entire class. If they have done something that could hurt someone else, the other person should be informed without causing a scene. Unfortunately,  teenagers rarely handle situations this way.

What we do instead is tell our friends, and then they tell their friends and then they tell their friends and it goes on and on and on. Rarely does anyone in this endless loop stop and says “hey, what we are saying is hurting people.” We just go about our day because it is not us being hurt.

Almost all of us are guilty of this at one point or another in our lives. Some more than others. But all of us need to at least try to make a conscious effort to be more compassionate and understanding and less apathetic. We are all grown up and will be on our own as adults soon. There will be drama everywhere we go, but the best thing we can do is stay out of it as much as we can, not just for our own sake, but for others as well. Coronavirus, not a rumor though.