Kaye's Days

Sometimes, it feels like no one in this house ever left high school. My relatives love to gossip about and judge other people either on the phone or behind their backs. You’d expect such behavior from someone my age, not three men in middle and late adulthood. Yet it almost seems like a competition in this household.

I know everyone makes snap judgments from time to time – I’m no exception – but gossiping and shots get tiresome after a while, and it makes wish some people knew the expression “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” Of course, everyone does something worthy of criticism every now and then, but that’s not what the problem is in this house. It’s mean-spiritedness and nothing more.

Ironically, my family then wonders why I prefer not to tell them anything instead of opening up to them. Why should I? Nobody wants to talk to someone who they know has a habit of talking about others behind their backs. You can’t throw judgments left and right, yet wonder why no one confided in or trusts you. And, of course, the hypocrisy is when someone does the same behavior to them, they get upset.

I guess all things considered, it’s really a part of human nature, but it’s no less annoying.