Before January 2005, my Sunday routine consisted of doing last-minute homework and watching America’s Next Top Model marathons. Since I discovered this website however, my Sunday ritual is to wake up and pry into the secret lives of complete strangers.
The website giving millions of others and I this opportunity is a blog called Postsecret (postsecret.blogspot.com). Started by Frank Warren, artist, as an experiment, Postsecret has turned into a cultural phenomenon. The rules are simple: decorate a homemade postcard and reveal a secret that has never been shared with anyone before. There is absolutely no restriction on the content, so secrets have included criminal activity, embarrassing habits and secret hopes. Every Sunday the site is updated with 20 new secrets.
What started out as a simple art project to give others insight on the lives of everyday people turned into a culture icon in June 2005 when The All-American Rejects released a music video for their song “Dirty Little Secret,” which featured people holding postcards in their hands with their secrets displayed on them. This expanded the audience, and according to Frank Warren, the daily visitors tripled.
Once Postsecret gained popularity, the site grew into something more than just reading the secrets. In 2007 Warren enabled a comment feature that allowed people to write encouragement and empathy to the person posting their secret. By incorporating this, Warren ensured that those who put their secrets into the mailbox and let them go forever, truly felt relieved and less alone in their deepest secrets.
To further help these people, Warren began releasing some of the most touching secrets in published books entitled My Secret: A PostSecret Book, Postsecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives, The Secret Lives of Men and Women, and A Lifetime of Secrets and Confessions on Life, Death and God. These books started a phenomenon of their own, which is people taking their postcards to a book store and placing them inside the books, allowing those about to purchase the book to receive a secret of their own. According to The Call survey 11 percent of students who have heard of Postsecret have either left their secret in a book or sent one to Warren himself.
This is why I consider Warren a silent hero. Every morning when he checks his mail, he receives more than bills; he receives a new burden to carry with every passing day. But he keeps the project going not because of financial gain or attention, but to help people he has never even met before.
That is my definition of a hero, and that is what Postsecret is for: silent heroes.