What's Your Secret?

I am fascinated with the Share a Secret art project, which has been highlighted a few different times on NPR over the past year. Basically, people anonymously send the curator of the project their secret on a decorated post card. He selects those that are published weekly on http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com/.

Art is a pretty subjective thing but I think some of these look so great, and they are extremely interesting from a sociological and psychological perspective. Granted, some of them might be engineered or sensationalized for their effect, but I have a feeling that most of them are real.

Some of the secrets are funny, some are creepy, some are hateful and many are just sad. New cards are posted ever Sunday and there has already been a Volume 1 book published which of course I had to get and really love.

The picture I’ve used on this post is actually one of this week’s secrets. “I’m the first person in my family to not work at a carnival.” HA! Something so random and unexpected and fun to read is what makes these special to me. I enjoy reading these secrets primarily because people’s creativity constantly amazes and inspires me. Plus, I’m fascinated by the workings of the mind and you just never know what people are out there thinking.

On the flip side of this subject, a big mega church here in Oklahoma City recently launched their http://www.mysecret.tv/ website, which is an on-line confessional. This church is HUGE and this website has received a lot of attention. They will appear on the Today Show next week talking about how popular this has been and how thousands of people are sharing their “secrets”, looking for help, forgiveness and ultimately absolution. The minister says the purpose of the website it to let people purge their sin and find resources that will help lead people to find Jesus and work towards a solution of some sort.

After hearing about this site on the local news I checked it out and I just hate it. But why? It’s very similar in concept to postsecret, which I love, but I guess it bugs me because it isn’t artistic and there is too much information. It’s too much like reality television, most of which makes me extremely uncomfortable and want to turn the channel.

We humans are such sensitive, emotional beings and it’s amazing how much *stuff* can just bottle up inside of us, messing up our lives and physically manifesting itself in strange ways. I guess if talking about your life and problems on-line in semi-anonymous ways makes you feel better, more power to you.

Wait a minute….that sounds suspiciously like how SOME people might use their... blog….