05.02.08 The 6th Consequence of Participating in Negative Gossip
6. Wastage of Resources
Engaging in negative gossip consumes resources since ‘it takes time, finances and people to gossip’, moreover without any meaningful returns on investment.
That was what happened to Aaron when he entertained negative gossip, leading to enormous wastage of time and a precious mineral, gold, which astonishingly ended up in people’s stomachs. Exodus 32 narrates how that happened. Apparently, as a reminder, Moses had delegated his tasks to Aaron; and gone to receive the ten commandments and other divine instructions from God at Mount Sinai. While he (Moses) was away, negative gossipers manufactured a rumour and propagated it throughout the community, claiming that they did not know if Moses would ever return. And guess what, Aaron believed the gossip to the point of making a golden idol for them to worship; and, of course, that took time, effort and assets in the form of gold. When an alarmed Moses returned to the camp, he ordered the culprits to be eliminated (Exodus 32:27-28); then converted the golden calf into powder and ordered people to drink it. That was how their precious ornaments ended up in their guts (Exodus 32:19-24).
To delve further, negative gossip is known for wasting time. In 2 Timothy 2:14, Paul warned Timothy against chatters, as that could deplete ‘time’. The Weymouth New Testament version of that scripture reads (WNT): 14Bring all this to men's remembrances, solemnly charging them in the presence of God not to waste time in wrangling about mere words, a course which is altogether unprofitable and tends only to the ruin of the hearers. Though that scripture mainly addresses hot religious debates, it still brings out the fact that idle talk is a timewaster!
At JuaLink, we see how Lulu would lose hours hiking from office-to-office propagating gossip, as though she had been hired to ‘distribute’ rumours rather than working! The publicity officer had forgotten that her performance was the only ticket that could make JuaLink retain her. As a result of wasting time gossiping, her employment was eventually terminated
Given that gossiping involves ferrying rumours by moving from place to place; or sending messages on social media and other communication channels, indulging in the habit can ultimately deplete a gossiper’s physical and emotional energy. For instance, instead of traversing offices, Lulu could have invested that energy in enhancing her work performance and furthering her studies by adding to her diploma. Such an approach would have definitely increased her competitive value in the labour market, thereby rendering her more employable and therefore a better candidate for the promotion she so much yearned for.