Passing comments...

About a week or so past, there was quite a big hoo-ha in d neighbourhood.

The situation goes something like this.
A group of family & friends decided to go up to the highlands for a bit of la-dee-da

One of whom is a lady, who brought a (male) friend with her.
Dude is just a regular friend, nothing special there.
Dude was also kind enough to be doing the driving, cuz seriously, wat gurl in her right mind would drive up the highlands when there's a male who can do that for her....

There was nothing 'funny' going on, they were in constant company of 2 fair ladies....as well as a family of 4.
Thus, there's never a lack of chaperones.

At the highlands, while having dinner, they bumped into another family member.
A young gurl in her early 20s who was there with a group of male friends.
I bet there was nothing 'funny' going on there, either...but who knows....
Regardless, all were among friends, thus, neither expected any problems would occur.

However, when these fun group of ppl (the 1st group) came back, the lady who brought her male friend suddenly received a (very very rough and rude) sounding from her elders.

Part of the (extremely long-winded, monotonous and repetitive) monologue (more like speech) from one of the elders included some way harsh words and much rudeness.
Some of the things that were said were untrue and uncalled for.
The only part which I would agree with is the part where he acknowledged that its possible the gurl and male friend terserempak at the highlands.

Fair enuf...that could have happened.
Of course, they did go up together, but to admit that would be most silly, indeed.

Elders rarely understand things.
Elders rarely understand that at one point, they need to stop restricting the 'younger' ones...its wiser to just let people "breath".
They also rarely understand that though younger, we can think for ourselves and would (of course) think to be careful, to know what's right and wrong and where the lines are (which VERY rarely this particular lady crosses).
There is this little thing called 'trust', which, if practised more often, would certainly cause the blood pressure to decrease tremendously.

Elders also need to learn that they, too, have to edit their words.
Age does not give them absolute "freedom of speech".
Age does not suggest full authority to disrespect and disregard one's feelings, pride and self-esteem.
And unfortunately, in this case, age neither indicated wisdom nor maturity.

One cannot comprehend the level of anger and frustration that must surely be felt by this lady.
The things she must've wanted to say, but could not out of respect for the elders and his position within the family.
Most probably, as well, it was anger that precluded her from her words.

In any case, the question that came to mind was : who was the person who passed on this 'news'?

According to the elder : "A lot of people know me".

That does not answer the question.
A lot of ppl might know the elder, but that does not mean any of those people know this lady and her friends.
Besided which, there were no overt 'signs' indicating there was anything more than friendship going on.
In fact, since there's always the 4 of them together (3 gurls and 1 guy), why would this newscaster automatically assume the guy was the with this particular lady?

The more it was discussed, the more it is believed that the one who tattle-taled is the early 20s girl they saw at the highlands.

The one who cannot keep her mouth shut.
The one who has no life of her own.
The one who probably thought "passing" random "comments" to certain ppl would not be a problem, even though she knows very well that some people tend to pass those random comments to others and others until it reaches the elders.
The one who knows very well that those in the grapevine like nothing better than to pass on harmful gossip because its fun, constantly ready with lame excuses such as "I didn't know he was going to react that way."

When another tried to get clarification, this girl dilly-dallied with the answer.
Big mistake.
The answers given were not satisfactory either, especially since there were witnesses to an earlier "passing comment" faux pas.
Her answer was " I cannot remember".
Big mistake.

It is always wise to think before you open your mouth, they say.
Lest you shove your foot in, instead.

Its also wise, no matter how curious you are about a certain matter, to be careful who you say what to.
"Passing comments" about can be more than harmful.
It can be harmful to the people involved in the story and it can certainly be harmful to you.
Whether true or a lie; whether quoting directly or editing scenarios and sentences.
More often than not, though, when you edit the words, you end up making it worse...its happened before.
And quoting...well then, without the proper infliction, tonation, expression and reason behind what was said, can have the same impact as when you edit other people.

Most importantly, always always be mindful of the consequences.