Rumours

When a player is good, immediately the big clubs begin to try and sign him.

To the Ourense basketball team, in the Spanish league (ACB), in the middle of the 90s came a great player, DARRELL ARMSTRONG, who gave many examples of his quality.

So much so that during the whole season, there were constant rumours about the teams which wanted to sign him. In the end he went far away, to the Orlando Magic in the NBA, where he carried on showing his quality.

Rumours are false tales that can damage everything. Evil-intentioned people spread rumours that destroy: rumours that a player has been proved to have been doped; rumours about problems between players on the same team; rumours that the coach doesn't want a certain player; rumours that a player has serious family problems... all rumours. People feed them, people believe them and with time, it is practically impossible to stop them.

They rely on that saying, "When everybody says it, it will surely happen."

And they don't realise that something as simple as a false rumour could put an end to that person's life. Rumours are destructive, disloyal, cynical. They don't help anything or anybody, nor do they serve to strengthen friendships or affections, they only cause frustration and anguish. The only thing that they serve is the cause of hatred and ill feeling between people.

God has spoken against rumours many times. God has said that we should not spread false rumours, and it is as clear a commandment as that of not stealing or not killing.

Too many times we fall into the trap. Too often we have been part of the chain that built a rumour. How many times would things have come to nothing if we had not added our gossip to the rumour! But when we give credence to a rumour and tell it to someone else, or even if we only listened to it, we are part of the wrongdoing, we are rumour-mongers and we deserve punishment.

Maybe one day people will say false things about us: that day we will understand and feel the hurt and the tears that we have caused another person.

Rumours. Small diabolical weapons. Weapons that are able to destroy even a country entirely. Weapons that destroy lives. Don't collaborate with the Devil. Don't listen to rumours. Do not spread rumours!