Forgive me, blogger, for I have sinned...
The Internet has long been the confessional of the 21st century. But it isn't just bloggers and forum participants who are now seeking absolvement of their sins. Now old-world media artists can participate, too.I discovered the gorgeous and brilliantly-conceived postsecret.blogspot.com today and really enjoyed browsing through the tremendous humanity of its content. The site encourages people to anonymously contribute secrets by creating their own 4-by-6-inch postcard with a deeply personal confession and then mailing it in to the webmaster, Frank, in Germantown, Maryland. He then uses his editorial discretion to to post a few new cards each Sunday for the world to share.
According to the site's submission guidelines, "each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen kindness, fantasy, belief, fear, betrayal, erotic desire, feeling, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before."
As you will see if you visit (and you should), the confessions are raw, anguished, beautiful and breathtaking. You can't really feel truly alone with unique guilt or regret once you've been through these. The sadness runs truly deep, but its expression is uplifting, enlightening and somewhat humorous.
I was reminded of a little Burd, and of myself a few years ago.
There were several that I really connected with, but this one in particular stood out for me:
Creating something great - either changing the world for the better or leaving an artistic or intellectual legacy - has long been one of my raisons d'être. And having faith that this type of immortality is not only achievable later in life, but something that can be looked forward to from a positive, colourful perspective, sits very well within me.
I also LMAO when I saw a postcard made from a parking ticket. It said: "I got a parking citation and so did the car next to me. I replaced the ticket on the car next to me with mine. My ticket got paid. And the one I took? I mailed it to PostSecret."
Forgive me, blogger, for I have sinned... Too funny.
The site reminds me a lot of www.notproud.com which has a similar theme of allowing people to anonymously confess online, but PostSecret is far better because of the visual artistry and non-pedestrian nature of the contributions.
I like PostSecret because of its content and its contributors. There's something special about people who make the time to conceive, create and actually mail a postcard with a deeply personal expression of self on it. I wonder if they are actually seeks absolvement for what they perceive as their sins, or if they just need to share. Either way, it's now on my "rounds list" for regular visitation.
Credit: The postcard image above was reproduced with permission from postsecret.blogspot.com (it allows bloggers to post a single image).
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