Talk talk

This cute little story has been making the rounds on the interwebs for a while now:

How to Handle a Rumor: The Test of Three

Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you either hear or are about to repeat a rumor.
In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three."

"Three?"
"That's right, Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. 

The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's True or not."

"Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?"
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued. "You may still pass though, because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be Useful to me?"
"No, not really..."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"

The man was defeated and ashamed. This was the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

Of course, it also may explain why Socrates never found out that Plato was fucking his wife.)

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I was reminding of this story as I was mulling over this new phrase I'd just learned thanks to my ex-brother in law: lashon hara. It's Hebrew and here's what Wikipedia has to say about it: 

The Hebrew term lashon hara (or loshon hora) (Hebrew לשון הרע; "evil tongue") is the halakhic term for derogatory speech about another person.^[1] Lashon hara differs from defamation in that its focus is on the use of true speech for a wrongful purpose . . ." (more here)

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True speech for a wrongful purpose, and, it goes on, true speech that has unplanned negative consequences. Hmmm.

This thought resonated deeply with me last week as I found myself trying to do what's best for me and for those I love but hurting people anyway. Sometimes, it seems, even while walking the path of righteousness, we inadvertently end up doing the wrong thing. Certainly there's a Greek myth about that.