Careless

Pedro received a call that his close friend Pawan had met with a life threatening accident. Although distressed, Pedro quietly asked, ‘who told you the news?’ The caller said, ‘A friend told me…’ Pedro persisted, ‘And who informed your friend? And do let me who started the chain? Did he confirm? Did he rush there?’

The caller realised his mistake. He should have asked basic questions to confirm the veracity of the information. He told Pedro that he will find out and revert. In the meantime, Pedro called up Pawan who was livid, ‘What if my family were to hear this false information? How can friends do this?’

It eventually turned out to be a case of mistaken identity as well as a distortion of whatever was heard. The concern was being undone by the carelessness in passing on a message without confirming. It was sad that a series of worried friends were doing wrong by passing on a deadly rumour about a person they claimed to care for.

So often, so many of us forward news without checking it out. If we truly care we must confirm before forwarding. In case of unpleasant news, we must refrain from being careless. Even if it is true, we must not play a part in turning it viral. We must be bothered about the hurt and scare to the family.

It is pertinent to note that such careless forwards come from a habit... a habit of passing on information immediately as we receive it… without examining it for its truthfulness… without reflecting on the consequences of sharing it… we try to show that we care… but we end up confirming that we are careless!  

Those who frivolously forward may not truly care

Careless indeed are those who share such scare!

~ Pravin K Sabnis