(I have no connection or affiliation with the author or publisher(s) of the book, PostSecret, or the website postsecret.com. I am not being paid nor am I benefitting in any way from writing this diary.)
I write this diary to satisfy my own interest in the human condition and to possibly help those reading this to find some kind of relief and/or healing, as coming upon this book did for me. (More below.)
When I read
PostSecret, I was astonished and moved. It was cleansing and cathartic to see that for how vastly different and diverse we all really are, in essence, we are the same and truly relative.
Frank Warren, the author of the book, handed out 3,000 postcards to complete strangers or left the postcards in public places. People were asked to
anonymously contribute a secret about themselves,
one that had never been disclosed to anyone before, to a group art project.
Anything could be revealed as long as it was something that had never been shared before and that it was the truth. Printed on the postcards were the instructions on how to share your secret, along with the address, (a P.O. Box), to send them to. This was your personal invitation to unburden yourself,
without judgment or repercussion, of anything you considered to be "your secret". And anything meant just that - a regret, desire, fear, betrayal, abuse, humiliation, fantasy, something that you'd done but that someone else was punished for, your feelings about someone that you've never admitted ... pretty much anything about yourself that you had vowed "to take to your grave" for whatever reason. The cost to those who chose to respond was nothing more than the cost of a stamp.
Mr. Warren gave a few tips to help those who chose to contribute. They were to be brief, legible, and creative. He invited the contributors to use the postcard as their canvas. These responses became the book. From what I have read, he was far from disappointed as the response seems overwhelming.
Some of the replies came with as little as four very revealing words. Others looked as though they were drawn by professional artists. I was amazed and awed by the beauty of the works he received. Some of what was drawn, colored, or pasted on the postcard revealed as much, if not more, of what was written. Some of the replies were dark desires, while others were sad longings. Still, others were delightful observations, all made by the people themselves about themselves. "They Don't Talk to Me Because I'm a Liberal" is an example of one of the postcards. Click on the above website to view a few more.) Long story short, I was moved by the naked honesty and am haunted by what I read and saw.
And so I thought I'd write this dairy to ask you here at Daily Kos, especially during this time when everything seems to be being monitored and/or policed, your thoughts on a novel idea like this. If you were given the chance to anonymously unburden yourselves of a lifelong secret, would you?
Mr. Warren is still accepting postcards. Me? My postcard's going out in the next few days.