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From childhood many of us would well remember the story of Chicken Little. She was the character of the oft-told fable who felt something fall on her head when she was out walking one day. Some say it was an acorn; some say it was a twig from a tree. But not knowing what it was, Chicken Little quickly concluded that the sky was falling.
"I must rush to tell the king!" she said. And on the way she passed other creatures of field and forest and excitedly reported that the sky was falling. Many joined in the alarm and passed the word around, with some far-reaching consequences.
There are some variations in the several versions of this old tale as it is told and retold, but all the tellers of the tale are agreed on these paticular points: that someone started a rumor on very slim evidence; that it spread far and fast; that it put many people in panic; that they paid a high price for their needless panic -- and that there was at least one character who didn't believe the rumor just because someone said it was so.
This would be a good place to stop the story, but there is enough time left to say that we wish some of the characters in this fable didn't remind us so much of ourselves sometimes. We have all seen the results of unfounded reports. We have all seen those who run around with unreliable rumors as confidently as if they had seen what they say. We have seen those who carry unconfirmed news as quickly and confidently as if they actually knew what had happened. We have all seen the whispering process, which sometimes seems to be the fastest and most effective means of communication known to man.
Sir Walter Scott's couplet comes to mind: "I cannot tell how the truth may be; I say the tale as 'twas said to me." It sometimes seems, as Seneca said, that "no one ... regulates his alarm according to the truth. No one says: "The author of the story is a fool, and he who has believed it is a fool.'"
There are many happenings and hazards. This is a day of real dangers. But we shouldn't let our lives be run by rumors. We should seek the facts from direct and reliable sources, and not be stampeded by what is whispered behind hands, or by gossip, or superstition, or irresponsible innuendo, or unfounded fear.
Furthermore we should remember that he who spreads an unreliable rumor shares responsibility with him who starts one. We should get the facts; face the facts; seek the truth, and know it, and live by it, and not let life be run by rumor.
Page Modified November 5, 1999