Conversations: Mio on Gossip

At a recent morning meeting, College Counseling Associate Mio Berk delved deeper into the precept “We value kind speech; we don’t slander or gossip.” She shared her experience discovering old notebooks shared with middle school friends, comparing her childhood note-passing to today’s texts or direct messaging. One particular entry focusing on “Amy’s hair” caused Mio to question why people – her younger self included – choose to speak poorly of others. As she said, “In the midst of all of this fun talk about our day-to-day activities and relationships, we were really mean to one of our classmates for not really any good reason.” To this experience, she added an encounter with gossips at a recent Labor Day celebration and a written exchange with a separate friend, which wisely invoked the golden rule.

Hear the whole story here.