Gossip

This is the illustration Phillip Seymour Hoffman used in Doubt paraphrased of course:

A woman had been slandering a local man to her friends. As she was sleeping one night she had a dream that a large hand was over her and pointing down at her. When she woke she went to her priest and confessed all that she had done. Was the hand pointing at her God? Was he pointing at her because she was gossiping? Was gossiping a sin? The priest said yes. He told her to go home, get a pillow, climb to the roof and slice open the pillow so all the feathers escaped and then come back to see him. So the woman went home and did just that. After she sliced the pillow the feathers went everywhere. The woman returned to church and told the priest what she had done. The priest said, ok, now go back to your house and pick up all the feathers and put them back into the pillow. But I can't the woman protested, the wind picked them up and I won't be able to find them all. The priest said, exactly, THAT is gossip.