Off late I have been recurrently getting the same thought every time a meet one my friends.

She is a beautiful lady may be a decade older to me. Extremely pleasant, jovial and outspoken. Its a pleasure to have her around.

But off late her positivity towards one of our friends is turning into negativity. The moment the other friend joins the group, this first friend starts taunting, making obscene remarks on her face and later behind the back too.

After a few weeks I just could not take this anymore as it was making the whole aura negative. Others too would soon start following her in passing negative remarks or laughing out loud. 

She is a very devout church goer. She is one of most sought after person to give religious talks in the church too.

Yesterday my sons came a bit early as it had started raining so they could not cycle  any longer. Both of them sat next to me. They are very fond of this aunty. After the hugging and kissing the aunty resumed her negative talks about the other lady.

My elder son who was listening very carefully suddenly asked a very simple question to this lady. 

"Aunty, will Jesus Christ like you if you talk bad about xxx aunty?" 

There was pin drop silence. Every one just kept quiet. 

We all quickly left one by one saying it was late for dinner.

May be all of us realized two important things from his simple and innocent question.

One :

You may go to temples, churches, mosques or gurudwaras but if you are still talking bad about others its better not go to any such places until you control your negativity against anyone. I am not very religious, I do not keep fasts, I rarely celebrate poojas and havans like all my neighbors do, but I have consciously stopped talking bad about anyone and thinking negative thoughts about anything. I think this simple act has reflected in my sons where they cannot take bad mouthing easily as they still do not understand hypocrisy that exists in this world.  Religion should assist you in becoming a better person everyday and not just be another habit that you do rituals without giving any thought.

Two:

It's important to cut the bad mouthing and any such negativity right at the start from anyone as later it not only becomes a habit for the other person but also too late to stop.

I really do not know what will be her reaction from now on towards my kids or me, but I do know that she will never bad mouth atleast in front of my sons or me in future about anyone!

An update:

We met again for a party today. All was forgotten it seemed as she started again 🙁 . This time we all kept quiet with straight face giving her no encouragement. She again tried and  this time I told her laughingly, " From today we want to see both of as best of friends so start spending more time together, that will wash all your bad feelings." Another friend quickly added , " No more Tom and Jerry show." 

So the message went well to her and rest of us, that no talking nonsense about anyone, as we do not really know what another person is going through or gone through. Feeling really great as if something big is off the chest. 🙂