Rumor has it that a majority of people would rather believe a good rumor, than have anything to do with straight facts.

    What are facts? They’re boring.

    What are figures? Just numbers that define concepts that we’re too busy or lazy to understand - or numerical values we like to make up when we want to prove a point (who really double checks that kind of stuff anyway).

    And it figures, that people who get bored easily are more apt to daydream and to wonder about the people and things around them. Are co-workers lives more interesting? How about the lives of my neighbors, my friends, the guy who runs a shop down the street, the woman who works at the bank? Town officials, state officials, sports’ stars, athletes?

    Maybe. Probably.

    So we chit chat with each other, we talk. But if the things we hear aren’t as interesting as we hoped, if the only news we hear is good news - happy stuff - we smile and nod and get bored again.

    But!

    If, in these idle conversations, we find out about someone’s misfortunes or if we find ourselves getting the “inside scoop” on some secret tidbit that maybe should be something secret, we’re suddenly rapt with attention. We can’t get enough. As soon as a juicy bit of gossip peeks through the bushes of our ho-hum lives, we’re like Alice catching sight of the White Rabbit, we’ll chase it down whatever rabbit hole it leads us.

    And when we come out the other side we’ve followed that story across every inch of Wonderland, telling every person we meet exactly why a raven is like a writing desk.

    At the end of our journey, with our adrenaline pumping and our minds reeling, we find ourselves coming back to reality with the Jubjub Bird and the Jabberwock on our shoulders, reeking of the rumors we’ve just created.

    Could these rumors possibly ruin the lives of the people we’re fantasizing about? Our  co-workers, our neighbors, our friends? The guy who runs the shop down the street, the woman at the bank?
    Maybe. Probably.

    But we can’t really blame ourselves, we’re just the messengers and you can’t kill the messenger.

    And you can’t kill the message - the rumor - once it’s out, not even when the truth goes snicker snack and fights back.

    Rumor has it that people could find better things to do with their lives, more productive activities than jumping down dirty rabbit holes. But I doubt that’s true. I heard it from a friend, who got it from a friend who heard it from her mom, and besides, I heard that whole family has issues…