When I first got to college, I was so excited to leave all of the high school drama and pettiness behind. I didn't want to deal with friends backstabbing me or meaningless gossip about someone I didn't even know.
While college students first proved to be above this immaturity, I eventually realized that some people just never grow out of being drama queens who won't think twice before throwing a knife into your back. Yikes.
One example of this occurred during my sophomore year, when I went to hang out with a couple girlfriends. I was excited to have a low-key girls night and maybe watch some movies or play around on Tinder. But I was in for something entirely different.
When I got to my "friend's" room, I was astonished to find that all the girls just started talking shit and gossiping about people I considered my friends. One of them started saying a lot of hurtful and false things about a close friend of mine. She didn't know him very well, but I knew what she was saying was wrong.
I hate that someone would be so careless as to spread rumors about someone they didn't personally know.
What this person didn't realize is that her silly little gossip could travel, and soon people could think a lot more poorly of my friend. She didn't seem to really care, and she went on to talk about other people she didn't know and events that she practically made up or had no involvement in whatsoever.
What I found out was that this friend group had a pattern of doing this. Whether they made up events, misheard or misunderstood information, or just gossiped about people, they showed no signs of realizing what their words meant. They seemed to show little to no compassion for other people and didn't care if their words hurt others.
I am here to say that gossiping isn't cool. Rumors hurt people more than you may know and putting a stop to mean conversations about others needs to start now. Please, grow up.
I do understand that venting can be necessary, but it's better to do that to one other person who will keep your venting secret.
Venting isn't confessing to a large group of people that you think Sarah is a slut because she slept with two guys. Venting isn't spreading gossip and rumors to your other friends or exaggerating that it was four guys and, also, she snorted cocaine the other night at a party. That's plain mean, and honestly, it's quite immature.
So, if you're one of those people that thinks it's OK to spread rumors about people, straight up, you're a jerk. Stop being an asshole, and think about what you say before you say it. It's called being a decent human being.
