"FEATHERS IN THE WIND"... An old Jewish story that shows what harmful gossip does...

Just sharing something to ponder....

A man told lies to many people about the wisest man in his village.

Some time later, the man who lied wanted the wise man to forgive him.

So he asked the wise man: “What can I do to show you that I am sorry for

what I said about you?” The wise man told him: “There is one thing you can do.
Take a pillow full of feathers. Cut it open, and let the wind take the feathers.”


The man did not know the reason for that, but he did what the wise man asked him to do.
Later, he returned to the wise man and asked him: “Do you forgive me now?”
The wise man said: “First, go and find all the feathers.”


The man said: “But that is very difficult. The wind blew the feathers everywhere.
I cannot find them anymore.” Then, the wise man replied:

“Just as the feathers went to many places, your lies went to many
people. And just as you cannot find  the feathers, you cannot make people
forget what you said.”


The lesson is clear. We cannot change what we say after we say it.

And sometimes we cannot change the bad results of what we said.
So before we say something bad about others,  it is good to remember that
our words are like feathers in the wind.