a tangled tree

every friday at the american refugee committee, there is a TED watching. yesterday’s was the video i last posted.

secrets.

the blog, post secret, as the creator said, is the most viewed advertisement-free blog in the world.

this is phenomenal.

why is it that we feel a sense of connection to people’s secrets?

part of me thinks that. perhaps. we feel connected to each other through our secrets because it reminds us of our shared humanity. its humbling. it removes us from our solitude. if only through the realization that someone else. somewhere. feels similar in their life as we do in ours.

and because secrets are intrinsically isolating, this moment of connection alleviates the lonely crevice that secrets carve out of our hearts.

hoping that someone else will be able to hear us. understand our pain. even minimally.

secrets hurt. they destine the keeper with a burden for as long as they’re silenced.

they encase shame. cruelty. mistakes. spite.

they erode.

they lie.

they protect.

and they are always onerous.

but the reason that we keep our secrets is sometimes more important than the secret itself.

why we’re trying to silence our emotions. deeds. words.

why we’re trying to protect your hearts.

why we’re embarrassed of our mistakes.

why we choose to bury these moments away in the back of our minds. hoping that we’re choosing the right path as we deny the existence of reality.

but that moment when we feel that connection. imagine that connection. that moment that someone else hears our words. knows our burden. that’s the moment that our secrets feel a bit less heavy.

a bit more manageable.

we as humans are connected on so many levels.

we all feel hurt. we all struggle. and we all wish to hide the parts of life that we would rather didn’t exist.

and as someone else hears our secrets. we realize that someone else can understand our hearts.

we realize that we are not as alone as we feel.