Rumours Fast and Blasts

This is fast and explosive.... Face that... Don't be demoralised...

This is created without any clear or provable evidence and relayed in no time. This is based on surmises and speculations. Most rumours are baseless. Some people are veterans at narrating stories for others as well as spreading them.

When a person has a certain doubt about something or someone, he imagines and assumes things that may or may not happen in reality. He doesn't stop at that. He goes further. He airs that to another one.

Then the rumour is carried in a chain. Not only that, the second person who hears the rumour may mutilate the original message and spread it. Ultimately an absolutely different story is created which has not taken place at all. Someone had given an ideal definition for rumour this way. "What some invent the rest enlarge."

A well narrated rumour can destroy a person's reputation. It happens when people start believing in it. When someone hears something bad about a person, they are not going to reason it out. People like to narrate stories as well as to gossip and spread it.

I happened to hear a rumour about a student and a teacher some time ago. The teacher was the student's English teacher. What had actually happened was that the fourteen year old student was the teacher's favourite in class.

She had treated him a bit favourably than others. So this made others jealous and they started carrying baseless tales about the youthful teacher and the teenager. The teenager was not mature enough to face the baseless rumour.

He faced a severe psychological disorder which not only ruined his education but also his future. See how effective rumours are. We are human beings. It's true that we get hurt or restless when we hear something bad of us which has nothing to do with our lives. We are shaken when we face rumours. Perhaps, feeling like committing suicide.

The rumours can turn a person's life up side down. One of my friends told me a story about two university students. Shanil a medical student and another pretty girl Sandewni were batch-mates who were exposed to unwarranted gossips.

Girls who were interested in Shanil, created stories that he is having an affair with Sandewni, which was not true. The reason for that was, Sandewni always used to chat with him, share notes and clear out subject doubts. Others thought otherwise and gossiped that they were having an affair.

When Shanil got to know that there's a rumour about Sandewni and him, he straightaway went to Sandewni and asked if she would like to marry him, whereas both of them never had an affair and never ever thought of a marriage.

Eventually, due to a baseless rumour Shanil married Sandewni while they were still studying. Though Shanil pursued his studies, Sandewni didn't or rather, couldn't. She became a housewife instead of becoming a doctor, blessed with three children.

I spoke to Shanil recently and asked him why did he arrive at such a crucial decision. I'll give his reply in his very own words. "I can't yet think of why I dared to take such a decision when I happened to hear that rumour. I think I should have been more wiser than I was.

I don't regret of my decision to marry her, but I still regret because this stopped her from continuing at her medical college. If I let her pursue her studies she would have been doctor or even a specialist by now.

However I think that I should have faced the rumour in a wiser manner. That rumour made me restless and it really affected me. See how powerful rumours can be," Shanil chuckled.

When a person becomes a victim of a rumour, the person gets mentally demoralised or down-hearted. That's the nature of human beings. Imagine someone spreads a rumour about you, how would you react to that? For sure, if you're not a saint, you'll be carried away by emotions, and you'll get angry.

If you're totally innocent, you'll spend most of your time under the influence of extreme emotions. Perhaps you may cry, you may stay withdrawn. These are the negative effects of rumours.

How to face a rumour

Being carried away by emotions is not at all a sensible thing to do. Whenever you are confronted with a rumour, you should be strong enough to face it. It may not work always, if you think that you can prove others that you're innocent.

Because once a bad story is spread, it's hard to prove that the person is innocent. What can we do at such times when we have to face rumours? That is to say, no point in worrying, weeping over it, because you don't gain anything, instead you'll lose the happiness in you and it'll later affect your work.

You won't be able to concentrate on any work. Perhaps you may arrive at some awful decisions in your life because you're totally affected by the rumour. What should be done is to wait calmly till the situation simmers down.

When time passes, people may forget about that and your mind will be peaceful. If you're totally innocent, then there's no need to be afraid of. Now or later people will come to know the truth. Because truth can never be hidden.

If you know how destructive rumours are, then don't create a space for rumours to invade your life and destroy your very being. Remember everyone has to face rumours at least once in his or her lifetime. Noble people who dwelled on this earth have also been victims for rumours.

Lord Buddha had to face such a rumour as he attained Enlightenment. One of the disreputable women called Chinchimanawika who lived in the time of Lord Buddha came before Buddha and claimed that she was pregnant and proclaimed father of the child was Buddha. This rumour spread and some people believed and tried to disgrace Lord Buddha.

But He didn't care much and kept continuing with his noble work. Later on everyone realised that Chinchimanawika had infact tied a bundle of firewood around her abdomen to fool the people with her make-belief story!.

But remember, sometimes rumours could be more powerful than the truth. What you can do is to refrain from engaging in vain talks which will waste your and other's time. And if you mind your own business others won't create stories about you.

"Rumour is a pipe, blown up by surmises,jealousies and conjectures" - Shakespeare; Henry IV.