By AJ Cross

Have you ever made a statement about someone that was not true, whatever your reason? Have you ever repeated something that you heard about someone of which you, yourself, had no proof?  Rumors can be dangerous things and once they are out, even if by guilt you try to set the record straight, the damage that is done is almost irreparable.

Go into your house and grab a hammer; walk to any window in your home; take the hammer and slam it as hard as you can into a window. What happened?  Did the window glass break into hundreds or thousands of pieces? Now what if I tell you to pick every single piece of glass that has fallen to the ground. You can’t. Try as you might, you would not get every piece. That is the damage of a rumor. It spreads much further than your intention and the damage to the soul of the victim of the rumor is like that of the broken window. It is almost impossible to repair.

No matter how strong the person, the looks and whispers hurt. To walk around and have peoples’ impressions of you based on a rumor as opposed to truth hurts. What is the purpose or achievement of attacking someone so viciously that there is almost no means of defense?  Is it to give you greater position over them? Is it an avoidance of assumptions or speculations coming in your direction? Is it simply based out of envy or jealousy or worse still, simple amusement?

Think hard about the mess that breaking a glass window would cause and imagine the messes that may be created by making statements of someone that are not true. Ask yourself if it were the other way around and you had to find the courage to stand up to lies told about you, if you could do that or would even want to have to.

Our reputations and even our very lives are very much like glass. We look through every day not thinking of how fragile they can be. We take for granted the impact that can be made if that delicate thing we call reputation is damaged.  If there is something that offends you about someone, then speak frankly and plainly. Speak on fact and not speculation, but above all, stop uttering anything out of selfish motivation or ignorance which may cause damage.

I do not believe that it is likely that every person we encounter or know will grow upon us or earn our affections or our respect.

However, we must not act against the goodness of who we are in an attempt to alienate them. We must not grab the hammer of lies and rumor and break the glass of another’s life, or good name, or soul.

Broken glass is a very hard thing to clean up and I promise you that try as you might, you will never be able to pick up all of the pieces. And attempt to clean it up with your hands, you may assuredly be cut in the process.