閒談莫論人非

When I was a little girl, I used to feel very privileged when people shared their thoughts about other people with me. It's like wow, they trust me with all their thoughts about other people? As I grew up, I became more skeptical or perhaps more realistic. I realized if someone is talking to me behind someone's back at this moment, they are probably saying things about me behind my back at some other point in time. Gossiping can be enjoyable or even inevitable but it would surely not be fun to be at the centre of conversation. Words spread quickly, what you say today might come back to bite you in the rear end in the future. A friend once told me he never wants to bash someone behind their back, unless he thinks you seriously need to be warned of that person's behaviour. Not only that, now that I think back, he does walk the talk because I've never heard him say anything bad about someone. Another friend once told me he wasn't willing to tell me something because he didn't want to whistleblow. Haha. I just realized that all my examples involve males and not females. It once again suggests that girls like to gossip more than guys. But I once heard a chinese saying that goes: 閒談莫論人非 (Never gossip in casual conversations).