The Tripple Filter

In ancient Greece , Socrates was reputed
to hold knowledge,and held in high esteem.
One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you
know what I just heard about your friend?"
"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me
anything, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me
about my
friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what
you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test."
"The first filter is TRUTH. Have you made absolutely sure that what
you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."
'All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if
it's true or not.
Now let's try the second filter, the filter of GOODNESS. Is what you
are about to tell me about my friend something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates
continued, "you want to tell me something bad
about
him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test
though, because there's one filter left: the filter of USEFULNESS. Is
what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is
neither
true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

Friends, use this triple filter each time you hear loose talk about
any of your near & dear friends