JUPITER CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, January 24, 2023 – I met with Ms. Donahue to talk about the problem of gossip at JCS.

Ms. Donahue does not truly know why people enjoy gossiping, but she thinks that sometimes people are bored. Since if they are talking about someone else, they won’t be focused on what is happening in their life. It also keeps the conversation going and comes off as more interesting. When I asked Ms. Donahue what the negatives of gossiping are, she responded with “I can’t think of a positive of gossiping…” since there really is not anything good that comes of gossiping. Saying something about someone, even if it is true or not, you can not take it back. If someone hears something untrue and believes it, it can be hard to believe the truth sometimes.

“I think the biggest negative is that people’s feelings are hurt,” Ms. Donahue said. Gossip seems to lessen every year as kids get older because of the negative impacts shown over the years. Ms. Donahue thinks it lessens because of the maturity levels. A couple of gossiping topics that seem to go around are who is hanging out with who, what people are doing after school and outside of school or even more personal things about individuals.

Unfortunately, this can severely negatively impact people. Ms. Donahue says, “If you don’t want it done about you, don’t do it to someone else.” I personally think this is so true. I have had personal experiences with gossiping or just being mean in general and it is not fun whatsoever. If you feel a need to gossip, just think if you would want it done to you. If not, it is probably better to not say it.