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There speaks the Old Adam in us. Coping daily with the weaknesses of our own flesh, with temptations and sins, we get a curious moral satisfaction from learning and dwelling upon the foibles and sins of others. Our morale seems to be enhanced when we discover instances where others proved themselves weaker than we, or where those reputed to be particularly strong characters have shown symptoms of weakness like our own. This urge to discuss the lapses of others is a sort of left-handed tribute to man's moral nature. It is evidence of his constant sub-surface concern with good and bad, right and wrong. Gossip is the daily expression of interest we feel in our neighbors. It is lip service to the injunction to be our brothers' keeper. But this expression of brotherly interest can be employed so as to increase charity and brotherhood in the world, or so as to promote discord and dissension. It may well serve as capillaries in the Mystical Body of Christ, or as pawns in the armories of Satan. One aesthetician writes, |
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