Steven LaChance Blog

When someone leans in to whisper bad things about another person, take a moment before you believe them. They may dress it up as concern with words like “be careful,” or “stay away,” but those warnings are rarely as pure as they appear. More often than not, the danger lies not in the person being spoken about, but in the one delivering the message.

The villain in our life stories rarely arrives wearing a mask. They do not announce themselves. They do not look like the threat. Instead, they blend into the everyday, often in plain sight, and they hide behind shadows they cast on others. When someone is eager to tell you who not to trust, watch them closely. They may be redirecting your attention, planting seeds of doubt to keep their own behavior unseen.

The truth is, you should make up your own mind about people. Human beings reveal themselves over time, in patterns, in choices, and in how they treat others when there is nothing to gain. You can discern the difference between dangerous and decent if you are willing to see for yourself rather than through the lens of another person’s bitterness.

And here is something I have learned the hard way. The person who brings gossip to your doorstep will not stop with you. The same lips that tear down others will eventually tear into you. It is a cycle that feeds on itself, and the only way to stay free of it is not to step inside in the first place.

I do not trust the bearer of bad news when it comes wrapped in gossip or disguised as a warning. Trust must be earned, not handed out because someone was bold enough to whisper poison in my ear. We owe it to ourselves and to the people around us to step back, to question, and to decide with our own eyes who belongs in our circle and who does not.

In the end, be careful not of the ones you are told to fear, but of the one doing the telling.