Montaigne begins this short essay with some talk about gossip—and he dislikes it as much as I do:
I not only never open any letter entrusted to me but not even any which Fortune may pass through my hands; I feel guilty if, when standing beside some great man, my eyes inadvertently thieve some knowledge from the important letter he is reading. Never was anyone less inquisitive, less given to poking about in another man’s affairs.
I often overhear things not intended for my ears and accidentally come in between disputes. I share Montaigne’s general lack of concern for most of what I see and hear. But I’ll add another factor for me in evaluating pieces of gossip: I readily distrust my own eyes and ears when I come across it. For words, I wonder if I understood their context. For everything I see, I wonder if my mind was creating a story around the piece of sight information I gained. Who knows when an inside joke is being expressed or when a look is more knowing than amorous?
Montaigne’s essay takes an interesting turn, however. Besides his dislike of gossip, he also agrees with setting work boundaries. However, he strongly opposes public servants who firmly refuse to act or pay attention when it conflicts with their leisure or pleasure, and he uses this story to illustrate it.
Plutarch relates too how Archias, the Theban Tyrant, on the evening before Pelopidas executed his plan to kill him and so restore freedom to his country, was written to by another Archias, an Athenian, to inform him point by point of what was being prepared against him. This missive was delivered to him during dinner; he put off opening it, saying words which later became Greek proverb: ‘Work can wait till tomorrow.’
This is hard for me, because I see Montaigne’s point (he was mostly making an argument against the privilege of power and the need for authority figures to put the public good first) but I also know that we live in very different times, when it’s nearly impossible to maintain work-life balance once you open the door to those dinner time interruptions. So, sure, require people in the C-suites to keep their chat lines open at all times, but give their hard working minions a break and respect their need to disconnect and unwind.
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