More than 2,000 years ago, a wealthy Greek merchant had a slave named Aesop. This slave was not very handsome, but he had a unique wisdom. One day, to test the qualities of his slave, the merchant ordered: “Here, Aesop. Go to the market and buy the best food in the world!”
A short time later, Aesop returned from the market and placed on the table a dish covered with a fine linen cloth. The merchant lifted the cloth and was surprised: “Ah, tongue! Nothing like a good tongue that Greek shepherds know how to prepare very well. But why did you choose tongue as the best food in the world?”
The slave, with his gaze lowered, explained his choice: “What is better than the tongue, sir? The tongue unites us all when we speak. Without the tongue, we could not understand each other. The tongue is the key, the organ of truth and reason. Thanks to the tongue, cities are built; thanks to the tongue, we can express our love. The tongue is the organ of affection, tenderness, love, and understanding. It is the tongue that immortalizes the verses of poets, the ideas of great writers. With the tongue, we teach, convince, instruct, pray, explain, sing, describe, praise, demonstrate, and affirm. With the tongue, we say ‘mother,’ ‘darling,’ and ‘God.’ With the tongue, we say ‘yes,’ with the tongue we say ‘I love you!’ Can there be anything better than the tongue, sir?”
The merchant stood up excitedly: “Very well, Aesop! You have truly brought me the best. Now, go back to the market and bring the worst food, for I want to see your wisdom.”
After some time, the slave Aesop returned from the market, bringing a dish covered with a cloth. The merchant received it with a smile: “Hmm… I already know what the best is. Now let’s see what the worst is…” The merchant uncovered the dish and was outraged: “What? Tongue? Tongue again? Tongue? Didn’t you say that the tongue was the best thing that exists? Do you want to be punished?”
Aesop replied: “The tongue, sir, is the worst thing in the world. It is the source of all intrigues, the start of all disputes, the mother of all arguments. It is the tongue that divides humanity, that separates nations. It is the tongue that bad politicians use when they want to deceive with their false promises. It is the tongue that scoundrels use when they want to swindle. The tongue is the organ of falsehood, discord, misunderstandings, wars, and exploitation. It is the tongue that lies, hides, deceives, exploits, blasphemes, insults, cowers, begs, provokes, destroys, slanders, sells, seduces, and corrupts. With the tongue, we say ‘I hate you!’ You see, sir, why the tongue is both the best and the worst of all things!”
St. James says: From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers (Jas 3:10). Nowadays, unfortunately a culture has been created that I would call “the news culture,” which not only promotes the bad use of the tongue, particularly through internet (everyone can say or post whatever he wants on internet) but promotes it as something good or even mandatory. It seems that if I hear something bad about someone, I have the obligation to say it to someone else and it does not even matter if it is true or false.
That is the false criteria of transparency. In fact, the obligation we have is not to say the sins of our neighbors; the obligation is not to slander. “Christ’s disciples have put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:24). By putting away falsehood (Eph 4:24), they are to put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander (1 Pet 2:1)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2475). We should always remember what St. James says: The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna (Jas 3:6).
