After reading through different PostSecrets this weekend, its much easier to see how much of an effect this could have on people. I saw secrets ranging from topics about suicide to love, fear to depression, there are secrets on their touching ever subject. Everyone has their secrets, but its way easier to tell them when you're anonymous. That's what PostSecret seems to be to me, a device to get things off of your chest that you otherwise wouldn't have the strength too. The article I'm going to talk about helped me further understand this website.
The thing that really drew me in about this article was how it was a story, and not just recollection of secrets from the site. The narrator talks about going to church as a child and how it was a magical experience. I can recal times when I was younger where I've seen these grandious things and just was awestruck, such as fields upon fields of towering windmills near my old house in California, or of my first view from airplanes above the clouds. Everyone has had these moments, and they are what dominate our interests and thoughts for weeks after.
The narrator goes on to talk about how during a confession when she was young she confessed that she "told lies sometimes." While I laughed at this, I cant help but think that its so true, and so child like. I know I cant speak for everyone, but I recall simplifying everything when I was younger, just like the narrator did when she "told lies sometimes." Even though this confession was simple, lies are the base for many other confessions that people have. They really are the root of all evil, lying to others, lying to ourselves, without this we would be much better off.
The narrator then has the creator of the website give her permission to use the secrets for her sermons. The creator of the site even comes to church to attend one of these PostSecret sermons. Some of the pictures in the article show the process of selecting and putting the secrets on the site, and it looks very long and tedious. One picture shows people sitting around a table looking through a pile of secrets to review and put on the site. This makes me have so much more respect for what this site does, not only does Frank Warren (the creator) go around and do presentations to thousands of people, he also has to spend loads of time sifting through secrets by hand to put on the site.
Some of the secrets that are in this article are really deep, and some are really funny, but theres one I want to focus on specifically. The first secret says "I still can't grasp the concept that I won't live forever. " Wow. What a way to start out the article! I completely can relate to this, I mean, just thinking of dying now is so weird, it seems like the average death age (what is it, 78?) Is so far off, but I've already been through 18 years of my life. I know that no one wants to die, but everyone does. Its so hard to think of that someday, a long time from now, you just wont be here anymore. It's weird thinking that you'll stop waking up and performing daily rituals, that you wont be able to experience certain things in life anymore.
Secrets can touch on many things, but all of them are personal. PostSecrets is one awesome website allowing people to share secrets anonymously, but still allows them to get things off of their chest. I think everyone can benefit from just lookin through a bit of the site sometimes, to see recent secrets someone decided to share. Who knows, maybe you can relate to it.
I agree with your thoughts I respect the Post Secret people a lot more knowing that they actually read each post card. Treating each secret as if a friend just whispered it in their ear. I think people can learn a lot by reading the secrets and I hope they keep it up.
ReplyDeletePerhaps "Post Secrets" unifys the reader and the writer... Maybe the reader can understand people better than before...
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