1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:25,000 ["The Star Spangled Banner"] 2 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,000 Pretty clever bird, the parrot. He can actually talk, pronounce words. 3 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:34,000 Of course, he has no idea what the words mean, so we never take him seriously. 4 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,000 Unfortunately, that's not true with gossips. 5 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:42,000 They use words just as carelessly as the parrot, but sometimes we take them seriously, 6 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:44,000 and often innocent persons are harmed. 7 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:47,000 You see, gossips don't stop to think that words are dangerous. 8 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000 They influence our national life, and in war, they are powerful weapons. 9 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:56,000 Gossips toss words around as carelessly as parrots, with no more sense of the harm they can do. 10 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:01,000 Did I hear somebody say gossiping is monopolized by women? Far from it. 11 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:06,000 Anyone who uses words carelessly, especially to toss behind someone's back, is a gossip. 12 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,000 Let me tell you a little story about a gossip. 13 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,000 This is Marion High, my school. I'm the principal, George Eastmore. 14 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:20,000 There were some people in my office this particular morning, Mr. and Mrs. Gage and their daughter, Jean. 15 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,000 They told me Jean would have to leave school. Why? Because of the malicious gossip about her. 16 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,000 I was shocked, and I asked for details to see if we could do something about it. 17 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,000 We began talking, even though Jean thought it was already too late. 18 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:40,000 Mr. and Mrs. Gage had opened a grocery store at the start of the term, and Jean helped out after school. 19 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,000 The School of Gossip 20 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:51,000 Usually it's difficult for a boy or girl entering a new school to get acquainted and make friends. 21 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,000 But in Jean's case, it was easy. She's a very good artist. 22 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,000 Her first drawing won a school award, and the prize-winning picture was posted on the bulletin board. 23 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:05,000 That seemed to open the doors for her. All the girls were interested and anxious to meet her. 24 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:08,000 The first friend she made was Janice Nelson. 25 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:17,000 Of course, Marianne High is coeducational, and the other half of our student body is always interested in a pretty, popular new girl. 26 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,000 So while Jean's new friend Janice Nelson was introducing her to some of the other girls, 27 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:30,000 Jack Monroe and Bill Ellis, our two ranking Casanovas, were making a little bet as to which would make the first date with her. 28 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:35,000 The First Move 29 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Bill Ellis made the first move. He was waiting on the steps when Janice and Jean left school that afternoon, 30 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:45,000 and soon was off to a running start in the competition. 31 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:52,000 Jack wasn't called the best broken field runner in Marian history for nothing. 32 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,000 Besides, he still had some trumps in his hand, 33 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:02,000 like an open convertible, which had helped quite a few times in the past. 34 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:14,000 Bill didn't know it yet, but he was about to be outmaneuvered by an old trick, the fake flat tire. 35 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:23,000 Jack was well in the lead now. He drove 12 blocks out of his way to drop Janice off first. 36 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:32,000 Then he took his time getting Jean back to the grocery store. 37 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:43,000 Jean introduced Jack to her mother and father, and presto, he'd won. He had a date with Jean for Friday night. 38 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 From the time Jack called for her, and all during the afternoon and evening, 39 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Jean kept thinking to herself how lucky she was that her father had moved his store here so she could attend Marian. 40 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,000 She was a brand new student, and already she'd won the art contest, made a whole circle of friends, 41 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:05,000 had been asked to pledge the girls' club, and now here she was out with the most popular boy in school. 42 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,000 But when they drove home, Jean began to learn a little more about Jack. 43 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,000 His popularity had gone to his head. He was completely sure of himself, 44 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,000 confident that none of the girls could resist him. 45 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:30,000 Jean's slap didn't hurt his face, but it certainly injured his pride. 46 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,000 He tried to laugh it off, but he was thinking that he'd have to get even. 47 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:38,000 Jack didn't lose any time giving the other boys a highly colored version of the date. 48 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,000 To regain his self-confidence and build himself up in their eyes, he added a few details. 49 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:48,000 Remarks about Jean completely uncrewed, but then gossip seldom worried about the truth. 50 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:54,000 Now the gossip began to spread. Bill Ellis colored it a little more and passed it on. 51 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Then Christine Manners took over. 52 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,000 First she used her lunch hour to tell the story to every girl who had listened, 53 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,000 and that included practically every girl in the school. 54 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,000 When she got home, she took over the telephone to call all those she'd missed. 55 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:21,000 Yes, gossip spreads like wildfire, especially with the help of girls like Christine. 56 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:26,000 And by the end of the day, the harm was done. Jean's reputation was ruined. 57 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,000 The next morning, Christine still wasn't through. 58 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,000 She'd been jealous of the new girl's popularity and talent from the start. 59 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:40,000 Now was her chance. But the picture gave Jean her first inkling that something was wrong. 60 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,000 She knew it had been torn down deliberately. 61 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,000 She asked her friend Janice if she'd done something wrong. 62 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:50,000 But Janice was too uncomfortable, embarrassed to tell Jean to her face. 63 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:57,000 Everyone took pains to ignore her. She felt like an outcast, yet couldn't imagine why. 64 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:03,000 Jean was hurt and bewildered. Marianne High had seemed so wonderful only last week. 65 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,000 Now it was like a completely different school, gossip. 66 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:12,000 Jean was lonely and miserable all week, but she was still hopeful that once she was initiated into the girls' club, 67 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:18,000 things would be better. However, Jean had already been blackballed even before the club scavenger hunt had started. 68 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,000 But instead of telling her, the club president had made Jean's assignments far more difficult than the other girls, 69 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,000 hoping Jean would fail, thus disqualifying herself. 70 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,000 Not knowing this, Jean started out on the scavenger hunt as eagerly as any of the others. 71 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:45,000 She was willing to work twice as hard as the other pledges to be initiated. 72 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:55,000 The rest of the pledges had finished their assignments and had been notified of their acceptance before Jean returned. 73 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:00,000 Now the girls were really embarrassed. Jean came back with every one of her assignments completed. 74 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:06,000 What could she do next? Nothing, Christine told her. She'd been blackballed. She wasn't wanted. 75 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,000 Jean couldn't understand. She'd done her assignments as well as any of them? Why had she been rejected? 76 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:17,000 Christine said Jean knew very well why, because they didn't want her kind of girl in their club. 77 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:24,000 Jean still didn't understand. Janice finally had to explain that they all knew about her, about Jack's story. 78 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:29,000 Jean was stunned. How could anybody believe that, about her? 79 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:33,000 When Mr. and Mrs. Gage came home, Jean told them what had happened, 80 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:37,000 that she hadn't been accepted by the club because of the gossip about it. 81 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:39,000 She said she was quitting school. 82 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,000 Jean was shocked. He was shocked. 83 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,000 He was shocked. He was shocked. 84 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,000 He was shocked. He was shocked. 85 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:51,000 He was shocked. He was shocked. 86 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,000 He was shocked. He was shocked. 87 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,000 He was shocked. He was shocked. 88 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,000 He said she was quitting school. 89 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:06,000 So that's the story she told me. That's why the Gages came to see me. 90 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,000 They agreed with Jean. It would be better if she left school. 91 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,000 But I asked them to wait. Give me a chance to do what I could. 92 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:17,000 Gossip is difficult to fight. You have to go right to the source and stamp it out. 93 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:24,000 That's exactly what I did. 94 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:28,000 I called in Jack Monroe, asked him point blank if he was the gossip. 95 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:33,000 Jack was surprised. He thought only women gossip. Men just, well, talk. 96 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:37,000 He admitted he'd started the talk, but he never realized the harm it would do. 97 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,000 When I had finished explaining what his loose talk had done to Jean, 98 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:44,000 Jack asked me what he could do, and I told him a way, the only way. 99 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:48,000 He thought it over. It wasn't going to be easy. It would be embarrassing, and we both knew it. 100 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:53,000 But he finally agreed. 101 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:59,000 Give Jack credit. He went through with it. His voice broke a few times, 102 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:02,000 but he managed to tell them all that there was nothing to the gossip, 103 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,000 that he had made up the story and was to blame for everything. 104 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:07,000 But that wasn't quite right. 105 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:13,000 I told them that anyone who listens to gossip is almost as much to blame as the person who sees it. 106 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:15,000 The only one who's to blame is the person who spreads it. 107 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:18,000 We were going to discuss the problem in assembly, 108 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,000 make the whole school aware of the danger, 109 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:25,000 and make sure that no Marion student would ever again be hurt the way Jean was. 110 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:29,000 The next day, the whole student body realized what they had done to Jean. 111 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,000 Now they wanted to make it up to her. 112 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:36,000 She made a fresh start and was soon one of Marion's most popular girls, one of our real leaders. 113 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,000 What could have been another gossip tragedy had been a happy ending. 114 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:40,000 But don't forget this. 115 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:46,000 There needn't have been so much as a near tragedy of our students instead of imitating this bird. 116 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:51,000 The gossipy parrot had instead copied three far wiser creatures, 117 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:56,000 the three little monkeys who see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil.