Sunday, December 14, 2008

Can You Keep A Secret?

When a conversation starts with someone asking you not to say anything or tell anyone, you know immediately that you are going to be entrusted with juicy information. And we all know that secrets are hard to keep. Sometimes we are desperate to tell someone else but don’t because this would mean betraying the confidence instilled in you. In all honesty, everyone at times has then gone on to another person and said, “Don’t say anything, I said I wouldn’t tell anyone”.

I was told something last week that was quite serious in that a person’s reputation was tainted and was causing a lot of angst. I kept the story to myself and then a few days later out of the blue I was told the other side. I wasn’t expecting to hear anything from anyone else but when I did learn more it was quite the opposite to the first story. That generally makes it difficult to know who to believe if the information is conflicting. There was then a discussion as to what was going and who said what to whom. Where this will end I don’t know but I have my suspicions. The thing is, it’s not a secret anymore. I am relieved not to be the only one who knows something about it.

Secrets can be a burden at times and you can end up in a right tizz if you can’t handle knowing a serious one. On the other hand, some secrets are light hearted and harmless.

Growing up, my best friend lived at the other end of my street and one day when we were about 12 or so we were riding our bikes or walking from one house to the other. We were laughing about something and got ourselves into quite a state of hysteria. I was laughing so much I wet my pants. I thought sitting down would allow me to be discreet, although if anyone was watching us from their front window they may have been startled to see the gutter suddenly become wet. Maybe standing would have been a little less obvious. This is what I mean when I say some secrets are harmless and if they get onto to the telegraph of gossip minimal harm will be done.

I begged my friend not to tell anyone. I mean how embarrassing wetting my pants at that age AND in the street like that! Yet, the first fight we had after the incident she gleefully let everyone know. I was mortified and immediately denied it saying, “No I didn’t, you did!” She said, “You did!” I said “No, you did!” And so on!

Unfortunately I did!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You should try Post Secret!
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Beautiful and tragic...