Passing On

"Passing on" in this case, is not about death although it is closely associated when the thought crosses your mind if you have been a victim. No. It is the unfortunate matter of passing on personal information told to one privately. When you tell your secrets, you assume - assumptions are dangerous things - that you don't have to say FYO, or in this case. FYEO. There are rules in the professional media about passing on information but in the real world, it is open season. The worst of it is, that the passing on colours and distorts your little revelation so that it has become something juicier and larger, and like the spectre in Ghost Busters, huge and plodding and dangerous. It might be mere trivia, but now it has taken on a life of its own. To deny what is being broadcast, only makes it worse. Aha, the sympathizer thinks, soooo it is true after all, because now he/she is covering up. What to do? Don't. Don't tell what you don't want bandied about. Don't reveal your secrets. They are yours, keep 'em and let the gossips weep. Or, and there is always an "or", spread one that you want to be expanded and published. You could try, as so many others do, saying the popular one:  that you are actually related to the queen, "but don't tell anyone".  That is impressive. Or, that you just might be the missing Anastasia, raising your eyebrows and looking around furtively.  It worked for my elderly aunt who stated that she was Prussian and then whispered the rest while flashing an enormous antique diamond ring on her whithered finger. Then again, the rugged romantic might just drop the family secret that he is related to Blackbeard the Pirate or Ghengis Khan while flexing his pecs and tightening his abs. The one I like best though, is the sheep stealer version. A Scot does this very well and visions of him, running about the moors in a tweedy kilt flailing his sword, emerges. We've all been victims of "passings on" and yes, even perpetrators of this nasty habit. Passing on secrets would be missed if it were somehow banished from the face of the earth,  but by the way, did you hear that...