I've wanted to attend a PostSecret lecture for a few years. I finally got my chance when Frank Warren came to Connecticut earlier this month, because this time around the lecture was not restricted to students who attended the college that hosted the talk. I brought my husband along. He indulged me with his presence.
Frank Warren seems to mostly tour college campuses and I'd wondered why. I thought maybe it was hard to book other types of locations. Now I know why. The talk definately had an aim to get its message to young people.
The general message with PostSecret is to reveal that many if not every person has (or had) secrets in their life. When a person has a secret they sometimes think they are alone with that issue and they may struggle or feel isolated due to that perception. Some people are tortured by their secrets or ashamed or any number of other negative emotions relating to keeping the secret.
The act of sharing a secret, even sharing a secret in writing on a postcard sent anonymously to Frank Warren as part of the project that PostSecret is, can be freeing to some people. Some people become liberated just by sending off their postcard.
The act of reading the postcards submitted to PostSecret, whether on the PostSecret blog or as published in the various PostSecret books can help the reader realize they are not alone, when they see others kept a secret that is also their secret.
Another good result is people from all walks of life and from different countries can see similarities between people in the PostSecrets they see. We are all more alike than we may realize.
Unfortunately due to negative past circumstances or life events or problems, some people become depressed and even suicidal due to issues that they are keeping secret. PostSecret has always had a goal to help prevent suicide. This has been done in various ways from publicizing the existance of HopeLine or seeking contributions for suicide prevention or just bringing awareness to how PostSecret readers may someday help prevent someone they know from actually committing suicide.
I didn't know what was behind Frank Warren's drive to prevent suicide but at this talk it was revealed. A childhood friend of his committed suicide which impacted his life. In the talk Warren also revealed a secret he kept about his own childhood which he says may have been the impetus behind his original idea to do the PostSecret art project in the first place (it being a kind of hidden beneath the surface type thing, that later was illuminated).
At the lecture, as with all of these, Warren invites people to speak at the microphone to reveal a secret if they wish. The most moving was a young man who said he traveled on a bus from down south all the way up here, alone, to reveal a secret he'd been keeping. He said he felt safe doing it here since he knew he'd never see any of us again in his lifetime. It was hard to listen to the secret as his inner turmoil about it was just difficult to see. After he said the secret a stranger-young woman approached him and hugged him. He then walked to the back and I'm not sure if he walked right out of the auditorium at that point or if he was just going to recoup in the restroom.
Most of the people in the audience were college aged, so I was 20-25 years their senior but I wasn't the oldest one in the room. Actually this was a flashback experience for me as I attended that college as a freshman right out of high school and I remembered freshman orientation being there. I also had attended a muscial to see a college friend perform in this auditorium which was a lot of fun. He was a good actor and his strength was performing arts, he shined when acting. He also liked being the center of attention where ever he was, as if he was always "on". He later became addicted to cocaine (according to his parents) and while in his 20s, wound up murdered! The last I knew the suspect was a drug dealer and there was talk that he owed money to the drug dealer. This was a white kid from the suburbs from an upper middle class family, so the story was shocking to say the least.
It felt odd to feel so old in that audience, when I don't feel old inside. What I felt was different for me is that in the time since I was their age I came to terms with some unfortunate circumstances in my life and have shared them with one or a few other people. Thus, I have no earth shattering secrets left to reveal to Frank Warren via an anonymous postcard.
I already have grasped the concept that we are not our circumstances, what others did to us does not enslave or entrap us, we can forgive and let it go. Like Frank Warren said of some of his negative life experiences, I agree that I'd not want those things removed from my past as they helped shape who I am today.
Life is a process that we're always moving through. Life circumstances change. I prefer to think of my past as something I'm still processing and moving forward from rather than something to bury and hide from.
Frank Warren is an excellent speaker. He has received training to be a suicide hotline phone counselor. I don't know what other training he's had but he is very good at saying things to respond to people after they publically share their secrets. How people are responded to after sharing something very personal is important and Warren did a great job with that.
I had one of my books autographed at the end. Warren even complimented me on my sweater, one I'd hand knit, so that's something I'll never forget. I don't have a photo as those were prohibited until after all the autographs were signed and I needed to get back to pick my kids up from my parents by then.
I'm impressed with the work Frank Warren has done with PostSecret and feel it is important work. I don't know what his future holds or what will become of PostSecret in the years to come.
I'm glad I attended the event. I'm grateful that my husband was willing to go along with me too.
Note: The PostSecret blog changes every Sunday at 12:01 a.m. and there is no archive. The content of the blog can range from G rated to X rated. The secrets range from silly to seriously disturbing to heart breaking. I have both laughed and cried from reading them.
I wish there was a project for kids for PostSecret as something like this would be great to talk about with even young children. However this is a controversial topic as it brings up the topic of what kinds of secrets would be shared as even some of the children's own secrets would reveal content that qualify as too tragic for some children to bear hearing about other kids enduring. Yet if one child knew something was happening to another child and they knew they weren't alone it might help them in the same way that teens and adults are helped. It's a tough subject to even ponder.
0 comments:
Post a Comment