Monday, September 15, 2008

Can you keep a Secret? - updated 4pm

Do y'all read Post Secret? If not, you totally should. It's amazing.

Post Secret also has a myspace and on this weeks myspace post, a reader posted that she loved getting secrets every week and that should any one be interested, she'd love to share a secret by text. This led to an onslaught on posted cell phone numbers. Literally, thousands.

I was hestitant at first...what if I text a stranger something I wouldn't tell anyone and they laugh at me? What if I tell something stupid and petty and secret and they judge me? What if they call me? What if, by putting my secret out there someone takes that secret and uses it against me?

But then again.

I believe that people are basically good. I chose to believe that most people share the same vulnerabilities.

I chose to trust.

So there, for the whole world to see, I posted my cell phone number. Within minutes I received the first text and they kept coming all day and into the night. Most Secreters and I texted back and forth four or five times, consoling one another, absolving one another, sending cyber hugs to every corner of the country.

Below are some of the secrets I recieved.


"I'm afraid boys will think I'm a lesbian because I'm athletic and not very girly"


"when I got the call that my little brother had died, I was having sex with my boyfriend. I wasn't crying because he was gone, I was crying because I almost got caught. I'm a horrible sister"

"Now that I've had gastric bypass surgery, I'm afraid I don't like my friends any more"

"My generation scares me"

"I've made it in a long distance relationship for over 2 years. It's wondering if he'll still love me when we're back together that scares me"

"Sometimes I wake up to my bitchy mother and wish I was magically waking up an adult"

"I always read the very last sentence first"

"I feel inferior to my friends. I obsess about the times they hang out and don't ask me to join them"

"I never loved my ex husband as much as I love my cat"

"My life has never been better!"


"I want to tell my engaged friends to RUN because I know how badly it can end and I want to save them the pain. But I don't want them to know how bitter I really am"

"I put my underwear on backwards sometimes, just because"


"I secretly wish for the doctors to tell me I need another back surgery. When people visit my hospital room it was the only time I've felt loved"

"I like the taste of my boogies"

"I think we don't ever truly know why we make our decisions"


"We're all writing the stories of our lives. I hope mine is worth reading. Don't chicken out!"

"When I was five, my father taught me how to masturbate"

"I think my friends take pictures with me so that they'll look prettier by comparison"

"I'm voting democrat even though I think Obama is the Britney Spears of politics"

"I didn't say no"

"I love him more than I ever dreamed anyone could love anyone, ever"

"I have cancer. I haven't told my girlfriend. If she leaves me, I'll just kill myself and save cancer the trouble"

"Everyone expects me to hold it together while hes deployed, but my family/friends don't really understand it...i can't hold it together"

"Every day, I think it will be the best day of my life. I'm usually right."

Added at 10:45

"I got pregnant on spring break in Panama city...by the hotel security gaurd. I look at his my space pictures of his other kid and i'm glad my son turned out cute"

"I prefer to masturbate than have sex. To the point I'd rather watch my wife with someone else"

Added at noon

"I almost had an abortion with my first child. Shes 6 now and one of the best things I've ever done"

"I've been married six years. Sometimes, I don't think he sees me anymore"

"Even though I have no special talent, I wish one day i'll become a famous celebrity just so that everyone whos screwed me over will see me on tv & feel stupid"

Added 4pm

"im afraid i will lose all my loved ones...im afraid of death....I have the same knickname as you"

"She referenced a post secret card when telling her friend the idea of me was better than actually being with me"

"I am worried that I will never love anyone. I've been married 15 years."

"If I hd to 2 it ovr agn, I wud do it all diffrntly"

This project has been so amazing. One of the Secreters and I have been texting since about 9am yesterday. The ability to connect with a stranger has to be the most amazing thing about the internet.

4 little kittens say Meow:

Robin said...

Some of those are so sad. Why do secrets have to so sad.

Lorrie Veasey said...

So you will put your cell phone number on my space so that complete strangers will send you their secrets but you won't email me with your dang number so we can have a pop in the city? I can be a stanger too dammit!

Jane! said...

I closed my office door and drank a can of diet dew today. I dreamed it was Dr. Pepper.

Proto said...

wow, explains some of the valets around town.