I got a call last night from an old mate.
Well, less of an old mate and more a guy I used to work with over ten years ago. He was a genuinely nice guy, a gentle soul that I'd kept in patchy contact with since I left the job but when my phone rang last night if you'd have asked me to guess who was calling I would still have been there in a "Mrs Doyle tring to guess Father Todd Unctious' name in Father Ted" kind of way.
Father Neil Hannon!
Father Spodo Komodo!
Father Ramalamadingdong!
Yes Polka, we all do reference Ted constantly.
We talked for a while and I caught up with what he was doing, how his health was (not great) and how he'd had a recent bout of depression. It only took me aback for a second as its no big deal in the job I do but, it and another conversation I had with someone recently, did lead me down a slightly different path.
You are the only person who has a secret.
You.
No-one else.
It's killing you. Eating you up inside. Possibly even ruining your life. Your child isn't really fathered by your boyfriend, you've stolen something, double-crossed someone, cheated on your girlfriend, enjoy something that's not seen as the norm, spent time in a hospital being treated for depression, hate your parents, any one of the thousands and thousands of things that are part of the human experience.
Anytime I feel like my secrets are weighing me down I go to Postsecret (usually every Sunday when they post new ones) and I feel a little better.
Everyone has them...even the people you think couldn't hide a penny.
ReplyDeletePostsecret is great, I like the people who write in (tho I've looked for an email address, and don't see one anywhere). My favorite this week is the one who said that killing themselves is starting to seem like a sound financial decision (as they're so overwhelmed by debt), and someone wrote in saying "Honey if this is you, tell me, and we'll drop all this shit and run off and start over, PLEASE."
It does make you sad tho, that people can't say so many of these things to each other.
Interesting people have secrets, it's how we deal with them that makes them good or bad for our health. Somethings though, like depression shouldn't be a secret, you don't keep the flu a secret so what's the difference?
ReplyDeleteThese postcards are printed every Sun in the Observer magasize. Its a long running art project, there's been some brilliant ones. My favourite was one were a bloke talked about the email he wrote on NYE but never sent, to his best friend, telling her he loved her. It was from at least a year ago.
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