How to Avoid Gossiping When you're Tempted to do So

There are times when people are tempted to gossip especially when one has been betrayed by a pseudo-friend. Gossiping is a way to get back at you "friend" but when you THINK about it, it really isn't worth the time and the effort. I mean, why give THAT pathetic creature who betrayed you the importance of even mentioning her name when there are bigger "issues"? I always believe that if you avoid gossip, you can practically conquer the world -- something that I frankly do not wish to do because the world is too messed up these days making the "conquering effort", inutile. 

Anyway, gossiping is something I was recently tempted to do. I was betrayed by a phony friend who actually told me a LOT of secrets I could have spilled. Now, I'm not just talking about her favorite weird ice-cream flavor or her penchant for pot. I meant "secrets" she "shared" with me about my other friends .. like this "friend" hated my guts and another one removed my name from some Christmas raffle.. heck.. this "friend" even told me all the secret personal defects of a common friend of ours. Yet this friend she was talking about TRUSTED her and probably still does. 

What is even more hilarious is that this common friend of ours thinks that my "pseudo-friend" has turned into a religious nut like her. I also believed that until she did tell me she was something like a "good witch" which I respected because I do not think that wiccans are any danger to the human race as much as bishops, imams and rabbis. Besides, she did say she was a good witch and thoughts of the Inquisition and the Salem Witch hunts really make me sympathetic towards these women. 

I knew she didn't exactly love everyone though she declared she did. I was sure she didn't because she practically had something "about" everyone. It dawned on me that she was manipulating everyone around her and that wasn't my type of scene, not even if she declared that she was crusading for world peace and some sort of Utopia that Lennon and Yoko imagined when they were probably zonked. 

I had every chance to tell everyone EVERY single thing this creature told me about EVERYONE. I was tempted to do so, but I figured that people have their choice to live their own lives, no matter how retarded they choose it to be. Months ago, my friends asked me about her and I thought that THE FACT that I was NOT religious gives me the chance to take the higher moral ground. After all, I didn't belong to their "clique" (thank G-d!) . I simply told my friend " NO, she never told me anything that concerned you and I'd rather not talk or have anything more to do with her."  I could have started with : "Hoooly shit.. if you only knew.." , but I decided that I would do a class act. After all, people usually find out the truth for themselves and I felt pretty SMUG NOT being utterly religious, but not messing up anyone's repute or life. 

Being consistently decent usually pays... and it pays REALLY WELL :) Trust me, don't gossip. Those who do aren't even loved by their own dogs which is quite pathetic, isn't  it?