Before You Start Moaning About Your Friend To Another, Consider This.
It’s the marker of a very shallow soul.
The need to speak of others negatively; to benefit or get a kick out of somebody else’s misfortune, or character failing is a glaring signal of one’s own weakness and frailty.
I had friends around for dinner the other night and one of them took me to one side to ‘discuss’ our mutual friend and her current woes. These woes according to this friend are ‘so pathetic’, and in her words she has ‘had it to here’ (with accompanying hand to forehead gesture) with the ‘constant moaning’ from our mutual chum.
She goes on for quite some time, lamenting the character flaws of said chum; and asserts multiple solutions — so very obvious in her mind — for how our friend should just ‘fix’ her problems and no longer be beleaguered by troubles. How kind. The word ‘should’ featured all too often in this monologue for my liking.
I stood speechless in these moments, considering the total lack of compassion and empathy for the suffering our mutual pal was experiencing.
I didn’t bother offering a polite nod or encouraging and meagre uh-huh.
