Читать книгу A Smart Girl's Guide: Manners (Revised) - Nancy Holyoke - Страница 25

Answers

If you answered yes, here’s what you need to know.

1. Don’t repeat what you don’t know. Rumors can hurt people—

damage their reputations, lose them friends, leave them crying in

their rooms late at night. Keeping a rumor alive to amuse yourself is

as bad as starting the rumor to begin with. For that matter, even if

you do know something is true, it’s mean to repeat it if it’s going to

hurt someone else.

2. The responsibility for keeping a secret you promised to keep

belongs to you and you alone. You’re kidding yourself if you think

you can pass it off to the next person in line. You let it out, and

odds are excellent that this third person will treat her promise as

lightly as you did yours.

3. Silence in a situation like this amounts to agreeing with something

you know is wrong. Speak up with the truth.

4. It’s not up to you to decide whether or not a friend’s confidence is

important. If she asked you not to repeat it, that’s all that counts

5. Rumors grow from half-truths, exaggerations, and plain old

ignorance. Be responsible for what you say. Little fibs can morph

into huge lies.