Rumors are like wild fires-they spread quickly. When you hear a piece of juicy gossip, sometimes it's hard not to pass it on to someone else. Then, of course, that person passes it on and before you know it, everyone seems to be talking about it.

Now that e-mail is so prevalent, information can spread to hundreds, even thousands of people in no time.

This mass communication has allowed people to forward information, true or not, to everyone they know in a matter of minutes. Then, these recipients forward the same message to their family and friends, who do the same thing, until the original e-mail message is no longer recognizable. Being in contact with so many people can be a good thing.

Take, for instance, the poem "One," written by Cheryl Sawyer, a UH-Clear Lake assistant professor.

Written after the Sept. 11 attacks, Sawyer sent the poem to her mother, who then e-mailed it to all of her friends.

The poem circled the world and eventually gained national media attention.

What started out as a personal expression of grief and hope turned into inspiration for a weary world.

While this kind of instant communication can be beneficial, it can also be a problem when rumors are spread.

This recently happened in an e-mail concerning the fountain on the Kemah Boardwalk.

On Oct. 24, a League City mother sent an e-mail to her family and a few friends explaining the ordeal that she went through after her daughter got a serious staph infection. The e-mail said the infection was the result of playing in the Kemah fountain.

This e-mail was then forwarded to countless others, including the UHCLIDIAN.

The mother claimed that hospital personnel blamed the water from the fountain for her daughter's illness.

The idea that children were being harmed at a family-friendly entertainment park was a big story.

As it turns out, the accusations were unfounded and no health problems could be traced back to the fountain. Water samples taken from the fountain were tested by health officials in Galveston County and even by the UHCLIDIAN staff.

What started out as speculation from one turned into a full-fledged rumor spread by many.

We live in a society where people think that anything in print is true. Unfortunately, there is no way to control what one person says or e-mails to someone else, so these rumors take on a life of their own.

So, next time you read a shocking story or friendly warning in your inbox, be careful before you send it to others. You never know what kind of information you are passing on or what damage the message will cause.

Of course, I am passing on information by writing this story. I'd like to think that it is useful, but even if it's not, what harm is there? I'm only forwarding it to one other person.

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