Dear Guthries:

You wrote in your original post regarding people gossiping about you: “None of the things being said about me are true” – you probably mean that some of the things they said that you heard about are not true. You can’t know all the things that were said about in your absence.

To gossip is to talk disrespectfully about another person in their absence. We all have to be careful to not gossip because it encourages disrespectful behavior. Let’s say, all I do is talk disrespectfully to X about Y–> X may act disrespectfully toward Y. X may look at Y in an accusatory way, or have a smirk that is unpleasant, or worse, harass Y in some way.

I didn’t think about a New Year Resolution until this morning, Jan 1, 2020. Here is my resolution: to not talk disrespectfully about a person in their presence and outside their presence.

I hope your new year is a good year!

anita