I am concerned about stories that are swirling around in the press that are being purported as facts by some, but come from third-hand stories that are merely gossip and used to garner sensation. Passing on these untruths are hurting many and undermine our democracy when they are used to gain votes for a candidate. The ramifications are long lasting for the people who are affected.

Let’s get the facts straight. No pets or water fowl have been taken in Springfield, Ohio, by Haitian immigrants to be eaten. The woman who first posted her supposition that this was happening has admitted that she was passing on a third-hand story that she had heard without any basis of fact. She just couldn’t resist gossiping about this possible horrific event. The images that people have used to support the claims were found to have come from other cities and don’t depict what people think they are showing.

Trump has also claimed that Aurora, Colo., has been “taken over by Venezuelan Gangs.” Looking into this falsehood shows that there is one apartment building in Aurora that had one call to the police in July. That is all. Many of the residents of the apartment complex are migrants, but their biggest complaint has been that their requests to repair broken things in the apartment have gone ignored by the management.

Not only am I disappointed by these situations of spreading falsehoods, but they strike me personally. I was born in Ohio, just an hour northeast of Springfield. The people there are kind and welcoming. Ohio was one of the first friendly locations for escaping slaves once they made it across the Ohio River and the National Underground Freedom Center is located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I wrote last month about my visit to the Molly Brown house in Denver, Colo. For that trip, we happened to stay in Aurora. This was in August when all of the “turmoil” was supposed to be happening in Aurora. I looked up on a map how close we were to the apartment complex that Trump keeps talking about and it is just a few blocks from our hotel. I didn’t feel any of the “horrors” that Trump describes.

When we travel we try to eat at local restaurants instead of at chains we can find back home, so we were thrilled when we found a Guatemalan restaurant that was tucked into a neighborhood in Aurora and experienced such delicious food. My daughter wanted to go shopping at some thrift stores and we found a wonderful one in Aurora. Not once during these times and other outings in Aurora did I feel unsafe or did we witness the atmosphere that Trump describes when he talks about Aurora.

This all reminds me of a story that I heard many years ago that goes like this; a young woman was unhappy with her life and went to a wise woman to get advice. The wise woman told the young woman to take a feather pillow to the top of a hill on a windy day and open up the pillow to let the feathers out and then return. The young woman did as she was told, unsure of how this act would help her with her unhappiness.

When she returned to the wise woman she was told to go back to the hill and collect all of the feathers. “How can I do that? They have scattered everywhere,” she responded to the wise woman. “Exactly,” replied the wise woman.

“I know that you have spent your days gossiping around town and this has made you unhappy. You cannot take back the lies you have spread about others, just like you cannot collect all the feathers that have blown to the wind. Only speak kindness and truth of others and you will find happiness in your life.”

When I heard this simple story, I didn’t really have a problem with gossip, but it had a huge impact on me. I realized that once we share something with someone, we have no control over what someone else will do with that information. And now with social media this situation is exacerbated. It is imperative that we are careful with our words and that we don’t pass on anything that isn’t true, regardless of how salacious the tidbit of information might be.

Let us think twice before we share something that we’ve heard. Let us think twice before we believe stories that are outrageous. Let us give others the benefit of the doubt, just as we would want others to do the same for us. And when we hear of untrue things being said of others, let us correct the wrongs that are being said and, above all, never pass them on to others.