Gossip for Good

From the time we’re little we’re reminded about the power of the spoken word. I grew up in Middletown, which is a very small town, and many of the residents in the town have families that have lived here for generations. So as you can imagine, everyone knows everyone’s business. My parents, who both came from multi-generational Middletown families (that sounds important doesn’t it?), could easily keep me on the straight and narrow with one threatening sentence “Remember, Leigh, word travels fast.”

Now, I feel it’s important to mention that my brother was much more likely to get into trouble than I was – I was a pretty squeaky clean kid. But just like any kid, I talked about other girls I was mad at and was left behind occasionally when my friends “forgot” to tell me about something they were all doing together. My parents reminded me that gossip was not nice and that if I didn’t have something nice to say, I shouldn’t say anything at all. Even when I was the one being talked about, they taught me to take the high road and not strike back. It’s not an easy lesson to put into practice, but it’s one I’ve tried to follow throughout my life.

As the technology age has evolved, you don’t have to live in a small town for word to travel fast. Today, word travels faster than we ever imagined possible. All the sudden that awful outfit you wore out on Friday night is not just the discussion among your friends, it’s the topic of gossip for anyone on Facebook or who has a cell phone that can receive pictures. In one flat second, your small town fashion faux pas can become a national disaster. That’s scary.

However, technology has also enabled another type of gossip – a type that I like to call “Gossip for Good”. With so many people online, the Internet has become a very powerful place to spread all kinds of positive messages too, like the life-saving message “Feel Your Boobies.” Many physical obstacles have been removed through the virtual qualities of technology. The useful and positive messages that travel on the “information superhighway” are reaching people we never before could reach in ways that previously were only possible in The Jetsons cartoon.

Feel Your Boobies has embraced technology as a primary way for spreading its message. Last year we received testimonials from women who believe the Feel Your Boobies campaign saved their life. Many of them were touched by our campaign through the power of the Internet. Now that’s “Gossip for Good” – spread the word…fast!

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Did you know National Feel Your Boobies Week is October 14-21? Join the Remind-A-Thon to help us remind 1Million people on Twitter to "feel their boobies"...now that's gossip for GOOD.

Watch the video on our home page now.

Growing While Standing Still

I wrote a poem a long time ago; in 1993 I believe. It was at the beginning of my career at a time in my life when I yearned to shed the known for the unknown, to break away from the small-town girl I had been and discover who I wanted to be. At the time, I believed that personal growth came from physical movement.

Fifteen years after writing this poem, almost to the date, I moved back to my small-town. I was tired of physical movement and was looking for a different kind of personal growth, the kind that happens from the inside out not the outside in; the kind that doesn’t come from external experiences.

This poem has been posted at every desk and every job I’ve ever had. It has inspired me and helped me. As I read this poem now, I realize it may just be time to write the next verse – the one about how good it feels to have learned how to grow while standing still.
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I walked outside, I don’t know where, between the earth and sky.
Birds flew above, streams raced below,
But I stopped and I stood still.

I heard a song upon the wind, a song I’d known before,
By heart I sang this tune I knew,
While I was standing still.

The wind brought clouds against blue sky and soon my song was gone.
The clouds sang loud but I did not,
While I was standing still.

The rain soon came to feed the earth and all who use its wealth.
It wet the ground with its new song
While I was standing still.

I dodged the drops that fell on all – all, that is, but me.
And all things grew around my feet
While I was standing still.

The flowers came, after the rain, and sang their own new song.
I reached for them but could not touch
While I was standing still.

You see, this rain gave strength to all – all, that is, but me.
For I stood still and dry and safe
And sang the same old song.

The storm, its power, force and face, was screaming down at me.
“Do not stay dry, come feel my song
and I will help you grow.”

Right then I left my safe, dry spot and walked out in the rain.
And I got wet and very cold,
But I sang my own new song.

I sang and I moved on.