Once an old man spread rumours that his neighbor was a
thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was
proven innocent. After being released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing
him.
In the court the old man told the Judge: "They were
just comments, didn't harm anyone." The judge told the old man:
"Write all the things you said about him on a piece of paper. Cut them up
and on the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear
the sentence." Next day, the judge told the old man: "Before
receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of
paper that you threw out yesterday."
The old man said: "I can't do that! The wind spread
them and I won't know where to find them." The judge then replied:
"The same way, simple comments may destroy the honour of a man to such an
extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can't speak well of someone,
rather don't say anything."
"Let's all be masters of our mouths, so that we won't
be slaves of our words."
