_{*Image from SerenaWong at Pixabay.}

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Finished up some writing at an early hour this Saturday morning. I was happy and thought I'd reward myself with some social media interaction with friends when I saw this posted on my friend's wall.

Sit at the tables where they're talking about ideas and opportunity - not shit about other people. ~Chris Cavallini

It got me thinking about the gossip culture here, and everywhere else I suppose; how those conversations create a lot of buzz and dump all this negative energy onto another person. I'm not going to lie and say that I don't like participating in these shenanigans, but sometimes I don't. I'd much rather prefer to have more meaningful conversations that create positive energy and share it with the world.

It's easy to find interesting, lively, and vivid stories about other people and how screwed they are, or were about something that they did, or some situation that they might have gotten themselves into; intentional or not. We find it all very amusing. But not the person who IS the topic of the conversation, especially if it isn't true.

We didn't have the internet and social media back in the day, so hearsay can be done at the water fountain station, in the office pantry, or while having a chat with your friends and classmates at the canteen. Today, netizens easily dig up dirt on people they follow on social media and share it with their ka-marites (gossip group).

Marites is the Filipino version of Karen, but not exactly so. It's more of a gossiper rather than someone being, or feeling, entitled. Marites is also more humorous and satirical owing to the Pinoy sensibility and funny bones.

As we know, humans are social by nature and social life is part and parcel of everyday life, but some people have created this niche and perfected the art that they have become the go-to person whenever there is a need for information.

And, while doing a quick search about the topic online, I found this mockumentary called "The Marites" shared online by vlogger Samboy (Samuel Lafuente), which explains perfectly what I mean.

Enjoy watching:

Going back to the quotation at the top of the post, opportunities and ideas come in many shapes and forms. Minsan ay makikita natin ito sa mga di inaasahang lugar. Sabi nga sa wikang Ingles, "it's like trying to finding a needle in a haystack". But with some common sense, you might just find something useful and wonderful if you look hard enough.

That's it for now. Kudos to Samboy and his team for a job well done. Have a great weekend everyone.

Love and peace.

~Juan 😎