Lifestyle

Life is like a game of ‘Chinese Whispers’

Remember that game we used to play as children… ‘Chinese Whispers’? Well, if you don’t then here’s what it is. Basically a group of you would sit in a circle and one person would whisper a phrase or sentence to the person sitting next to them. This person would then whisper it to the next person, who would in turn whisper it to the next person, and so on.. you get the picture! However, as it gets whispered around the circle, it starts changing. People either hear the phrase wrong or they purposely change it so that when it gets passed onto the next person it would no longer be the original sentence that was said. When it has reached the person who started it they have to say what they heard out loud, and the majority of the time it is completely different to what they started with.

You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this….

I have came to the conclusion that life is like a big game of Chinese Whispers. In primary school, children would always tell on each other.. “he said this”…”she said that”… But it doesn’t end there. In fact as you get older, I believe it gets worse. You would tell a secret to a friend and tell them not to tell anybody else, but let’s be honest, half the time that doesn’t happen. You tell your best friend, who tells their other best friend, who then tells their best friend, and so on. Do you see a similar pattern emerging?

No matter what you tell somebody, whether it is good or bad, more people will end up knowing about it and somewhere along the line the story will change. Whether it be on purpose, or somebody has misinterpreted what they heard, or whether they just heard a little bit of it and filled in the gaps themselves with guesses, the chances are not everybody will know the real story because it has been passed on so many times.

Obviously not everything happens this way, but sadly a lot of the time it does. Whether it be at school, college or in work, information gets passed on incorrectly and soon enough everybody thinks they know something, when they actually have their facts all wrong.

I guess there is two lessons to learn here. One being to watch what you say to people. Just because you trust somebody not to tell anybody else doesn’t mean they won’t. You can’t be too careful. Secondly, don’t believe everything you hear. Or, should I say, don’t judge people or pass information on until you have heard the true story. Just because it sounds believable doesn’t mean it’s right.

 

1 Comment
To Top