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posting secrets

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I’m riveted by this site.  It’s not G-rated and it’s not for the faint of heart.  It’s raw, broken, funny, desperate, bizarre — it feels like who we all are in our fallen flesh.  I dare you to go there and read just one secret.  You won’t be able to stop there.  Because somewhere, in someone else’s words, you’ll see yourself.

 

12 Replies to “posting secrets”

  1. Very powerful, riveting stuff.

    I don’t think I’ve told many people in my church or work that I have a blog. It’s kind of my secret that I spew out to the rest of the world. I think I would be more self-conscious of what I wrote if I knew they were reading it.

    Too bad, huh?

    A theme I felt running through so many of the postcards was basically “I don’t do the things I want to do, and I do the very things I don’t want to do”.

    Sound familiar?

  2. Ooops, I meant THIS is a great site, Tracey! Thanks for posting it.

    I haven’t quite figured out your comments thingie yet and keep commenting in the wrong thread! 🙂

  7. I think this is just way too scarey a challenge to follow.

    I just don’t want to know people’s secrets.

    I was thinking about this sort of thing this morning. There are two types of compassion, I’m thinking: the empathizers and the identifiers. Empathizers can go there..they keep enough separation that they can handle other people’s pain better, they synthesize it into something helpful somehow.

    Identifiers become one with the person’s pain and start to feel they must do something… they carry it with them until they somehow resolve it.

    Guess which one I think I am? ‘Deal with the secrets as they come, and don’t go looking for more’ is my motto.

  8. I can certainly understand that, Ilona.

    As I read through the site, I was just struck by the brokenness of it all and reminded again and again of our desperate need of a Savior.

  9. I have the advantage (??) of having known about this site for a while now so I come at it from a slightly different position. (Or maybe I’m just a cynical so-and-so.)

    My original shock was very much along the lines of those expressed above but on second or third viewing I can’t help but be reminded of how social sciences often try to apply the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle. In a nutshell THU (when misapplied by social scientists) states “the very act of observing something inevitably alters it in some way.” (i.e., Margaret Mead could never know the sexual mores of the Samoans—her very presence on the island distorted what she was there to observe – http://slate.msn.com/?id=2062844 )

    An idea like these postcards that may have started out genuine is corrupted by notoriety. Space being at a premium, the authors know their secret must be more and more shocking to be picked for the front page. Is it a secret … or the Lifetime Movie of the Week version of their secret? Is it a secret or fictitious sentiment chosen for maximum drama to make a political or emotional statement? Is it a secret or some strange variation of Munchausen by proxy, not unlike the people who call in false tips to the police hotline (and there are thousands of them) or invent ailments. Every secret is seen through a filter of how it will play on page one (or blogpage one).

    Don’t get me wrong. I think many of the cards may be genuine and either way, Tracey’s sentiments are spot on. If they’re true these people are broken and in desperate need of a Savior for obvious reasons. If the comments are attention seeking ploys or shock tactics, then those very same people are broken in an entirely different way that is equally as poignant to me … and yes, desperately in need of an anchor and Savior in their life.

    Okay, sorry to be the lone voice of dissent.
    🙁 Don’t hurt me!

  10. No, absolutely. Could be either way. In a culture saturated with sensationalism, every motive we have is questionable, even unconsciously. That said, I think the postcards that hit your gut the hardest are probably the genuine article. If one *feels* manufactured for attention or glory, it probably is. The ones that resound are the ones for which the website was designed.

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