On day in ancient Greece, an acquaintance met the great philosopher Socrates and said.

Socrates, do you know what I just heard about your friend?

Hold on a minute, Socrates replied. Before telling me anything, I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.

Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say.

TRUTH

The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?

No, the person said, “actually I just heard about it and …

All right, said Socrates. So you don’t really know if it’s true or not.

GOODNESS

Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?

No, on the contrary….

So, Socrates continued, you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true.

You many still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left:

USEFULNESS

The filter of usefulness, Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?

No, not really.

Well, concluded Socrates, if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all.