When we worked in the western hemisphere in London, we were taught to always have an opinion, about everything. A decade later while living in South East Asia, we found that forming opinions about others was rude, improper and even frowned upon. We found this fascinating, because as human beings we belong to the same species and inhabit the same planet, yet the Western hemisphere preaches one thing while the Eastern hemisphere says the opposite about the same thing. When we delved deeper, we found that the etymology of this paradox laid in the perils of backbiting and gossiping.

One day while sitting in a mastermind, a Master Mind member taught us that gossiping was casually talking about others in their absence. It mattered not whether the discussion was based on facts or opinion, for if the other person would hear of it and not approve of it, it would constitute gossip. Backbiting, he continued, was scandalous, frivolous and vexatious speech that could lead to libel and defamation.

Mr. G likened the penalty for engaging in these repugnant, malicious and abhorrent actions as washing away our good deeds by giving it to the party that is the subject of the malicious talk. Imagine that if you fasted an entire, and then while pouring a glass of water in your kitchen to celebrate the end of your fast, you look through your window and casually lament how filthy your neighbors washing on the line looks. An entire day of noble sacrifice has just down the drain as you unknowingly and unwittingly give your gracious deed away to a neighbor that you may or may not even like. That certainly doesn’t make sense to us.

Mr. G continued that backbiting is akin to eating the flesh of another. This metaphor made us uncomfortable and nauseous as we thought that even carnivores like lions leave behind the flesh of their favorite prey, buffalo when feasting on them. Even during past civilizations like the dinosaur age, did the deadliest dinosaur T Rex, who inhabited areas of the Earth of what is today Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego and weighing twice that of a fully-grown elephant, not eat the flesh of its dinner.

Mr. G concluded his nail-biting and riveting finale by telling us that the penalty for gossip and defamation was severe, that The CEO of the Universe detests it so much that the perpetrators of this malignant action would be disgraced in their own homes. How often we find domestic residences denied of peace, happiness, and love because it is over-taken by the abuse of alcohol, adultery, and wife-beating, simply because the occupants of these households could not keep their noses out of the affairs of others.