Hej, mit navn er Frank, og jeg samler på hemmeligheder. Det hele startede med en vanvittig ide i november 2004. Jeg printede 3.000 postkort adresseret til mig selv, ligesom dette. De var tomme på den ene side, og på den anden side skrev jeg nogle simple instruktioner. Jeg bad folk om anonymt at dele en snedig hemmelighed som de aldrig havde fortalt til nogen. Jeg delte disse postkort tilfældigt ud i gaderne i Washington, D.C., uden at vide hvad jeg skulle forvente.
Hi, my name is Frank, and I collect secrets. It all started with a crazy idea in November of 2004. I printed up 3,000 self-addressed postcards, just like this. They were blank on one side, and on the other side I listed some simple instructions. I asked people to anonymously share an artful secret they'd never told anyone before. And I handed out these postcards randomly on the streets of Washington, D.C., not knowing what to expect.
Men snart begyndte ideen at sprede sig viralt. Folk begyndte at købe deres egne postkort og at lave deres egne postkort. Jeg begyndte at modtage hemmeligheder i min postkasse, med poststempler der ikke kun var fra Washington, D.C., men også fra Texas, California, Vancouver, New Zealand, Irak. Snart virkede min vanvittige idé ikke så vanvittig. PostSecrect.com er den mest besøgte, reklamefri blog i verden. Og det her er min postkortsamling i dag. I kan se min kone kæmpe med at stable en bunke postkort, på en pyramide af over en halv million hemmeligheder.
But soon the idea began spreading virally. People began to buy their own postcards and make their own postcards. I started receiving secrets in my home mailbox, not just with postmarks from Washington, D.C., but from Texas, California, Vancouver, New Zealand, Iraq. Soon my crazy idea didn't seem so crazy. PostSecret.com is the most visited advertisement-free blog in the world. And this is my postcard collection today. You can see my wife struggling to stack a brick of postcards on a pyramid of over a half-million secrets.
Hvad jeg gerne vil gøre nu er at vise en håndfuld helt særlige hemmeligheder fra den samling, og det starter med denne. "Jeg fandt disse frimærker som barn, og jeg har ventet hele mit liv på at have en at sende dem til. Jeg fik aldrig nogen." Hemmeligheder kan antage mange former. De kan være chokerende, eller skøre eller sjælefulde. De kan forbinde os med vores dybeste menneskelighed eller med mennesker vi aldrig kommer til at møde. (Latter) Måske var det én af jer der sendte denne. Jeg ved det ikke. Det her er et godt eksempel på den kreativitet folk har når de laver og sender mig et postkort. Den her er åbenlyst lavet af en halv Starbucks kop med et frimærke og min hjemmeadresse skrevet på den anden side.
What I'd like to do now is share with you a very special handful of secrets from that collection, starting with this one. "I found these stamps as a child, and I have been waiting all my life to have someone to send them to. I never did have someone." Secrets can take many forms. They can be shocking or silly or soulful. They can connect us to our deepest humanity or with people we'll never meet. (Laughter) Maybe one of you sent this one in. I don't know. This one does a great job of demonstrating the creativity that people have when they make and mail me a postcard. This one obviously was made out of half a Starbucks cup with a stamp and my home address written on the other side.
"Kære Biologiske mor, jeg har dejlige forældre. Jeg har fundet kærlighed. Jeg er glad." Hemmeligheder kan minde os om uendelige menneskelige dramaer, om skrøbelighed og heroisme, der udspiller sig stille i livet hos de mennesker der omgiver os selv nu. "Alle der kendte mig før 9/11 tror jeg er død." "Jeg arbejdede med en flok snerpede, religiøse mennesker, så nogle gange havde jeg ikke trusser på, og jeg havde et stort smil og lo for mig selv."
"Dear Birthmother, I have great parents. I've found love. I'm happy." Secrets can remind us of the countless human dramas, of frailty and heroism, playing out silently in the lives of people all around us even now. "Everyone who knew me before 9/11 believes I'm dead." "I used to work with a bunch of uptight religious people, so sometimes I didn't wear panties, and just had a big smile and chuckled to myself."
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Den næste kræver lidt forklaring, før jeg deler den med jer. Jeg elsker at tale ved universiteter, og dele hemmeligheder og historierne med studerende. Og nogen gange bliver jeg bagefter og signerer bøger og tager billeder med studerende. og det næste postkort blev lavet ud af ét af disse billeder. Og jeg bør nævne at jeg, ligesom i dag, til den PostSecret begivenhed, brugte en trådløs mikrofon. "Din mikrofon var ikke slukket under lydprøven. Vi hørte dig allesammen tisse." (Latter) Det var virkelig pinligt, da det skete, indtil jeg tænkte på, at det kunne have været værre. Ikke sandt. I ved hvad jeg mener.
This next one takes a little explanation before I share it with you. I love to speak on college campuses and share secrets and the stories with students. And sometimes afterwards I'll stick around and sign books and take photos with students. And this next postcard was made out of one of those photos. And I should also mention that, just like today, at that PostSecret event, I was using a wireless microphone. "Your mic wasn't off during sound check. We all heard you pee." (Laughter) This was really embarrassing when it happened, until I realized it could have been worse. Right. You know what I'm saying.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
"Inden i denne konvolut er de iturevne rester af et selvmordsbrev jeg ikke brugte. Jeg føler mig som den lykkeligste person i verden (nu.)" "Èn af disse mænd er faderen til min søn. Han betaler mig meget for at holde det hemmeligt."
"Inside this envelope is the ripped up remains of a suicide note I didn't use. I feel like the happiest person on Earth (now.)" "One of these men is the father of my son. He pays me a lot to keep it a secret."
(Latter)
(Laughter)
"Den lørdag hvor du undrede dig over, hvor jeg var, jamen, der hentede jeg din ring. Den er i min lomme lige nu." Jeg bragte dette postkort på PostSecret bloggen for to år siden på Valentine’s Day. Den stod helt nederst på siden, som den sidste hemmelighed i kolonnen. Og den havde ikke været der i mere end et par timer, før jeg fik en sprudlende mail fra fyren der havde sendt mig det postkort.
"That Saturday when you wondered where I was, well, I was getting your ring. It's in my pocket right now." I had this postcard posted on the PostSecret blog two years ago on Valentine's Day. It was the very bottom, the last secret in the long column. And it hadn't been up for more than a couple hours before I received this exuberant email from the guy who mailed me this postcard.
Og han sagde "Frank, jeg vil gerne dele denne historie med dig, som lige skete i mit liv." Han sagde "Mine knæ ryster stadig." Han sagde "I tre år har min kæreste og jeg haft et søndag morgen ritual om at besøge PostSecret bloggen sammen og læse hemmelighederne højt. Jeg læser nogle for hende, hun læser nogle for mig." Han siger, "Det har virkelig bragt os tættere sammen gennem årene.
And he said, "Frank, I've got to share with you this story that just played out in my life." He said, "My knees are still shaking." He said, "For three years, my girlfriend and I, we've made it this Sunday morning ritual to visit the PostSecret blog together and read the secrets out loud. I read some to her, she reads some to me." He says, "It's really brought us closer together through the years.
Så da jeg opdagede at du havde bragt mit overraskelses-frieri til min kæreste helt i bunden, blev jeg helt ude af mig selv. Og jeg prøvede at opføre mig roligt, ikke at afsløre noget. Og ligesom hver søndag startede vi med at læse hemmelighederne højt for hinanden." Han sagde, "Men denne gang virkede det som om det tog hende en evighed at komme igennem dem, én efter en." Men det gjorde hun endelig. Hun kom til den hemmelighed i bunden, hans frieri til hende. Og han sagde, "Hun læste den én gang, og så læste hun den igen." Og så vente hun sig mod ham og sagde, "Er det vores kat?" (Latter) Og da hun så ham, var han nede på knæ, han havde ringen fremme. Han stillede spørgsmålet, hun sagde ja. Det var en happy ending.
And so when I discovered that you had posted my surprise proposal to my girlfriend at the very bottom, I was beside myself. And I tried to act calm, not to give anything away. And just like every Sunday, we started reading the secrets out loud to each other." He said, "But this time it seemed like it was taking her forever to get through each one." But she finally did. She got to that bottom secret, his proposal to her. And he said, "She read it once and then she read it again." And she turned to him and said, "Is that our cat?" (Laughter) And when she saw him, he was down on one knee, he had the ring out. He popped the question, she said yes. It was a very happy ending.
Så jeg mailede tilbage til ham og jeg skrev, "Del venligst et billede med mig, noget jeg kan dele med hele PostSecret's community og fortælle alle om jeres eventyrlige slutning." Og han mailede dette billede til mig.
So I emailed him back and I said, "Please share with me an image, something, that I can share with the whole PostSecret community and let everyone know your fairy tale ending." And he emailed me this picture.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
"Jeg fandt dit kamera i Lollapalooza i sommers. Jeg har endelig fået billederne fremkaldt og jeg vil rigtig gerne give dig dem." Dette billede blev aldrig givet tilbage til de mennesker der mistede det, men denne hemmelighed har påvirket mange liv, begyndende med en studerende i Canada der hedder Matty. Matty blev inspireret af den hemmelighed til at starte sin egen hjemmeside, en side kaldet IFoundYourCamera. Matty opfordrer folk til at sende digitalkameraer de har fundet til ham, mistede usb nøgler med savnede billeder. Og Matty tager billederne fra disse kameraer og poster dem på sin hjemmeside hver uge. Og folk kommer og kigger for at se, om de kan finde et billede de har mistet eller for at hjælpe nogle andre med at få deres billeder tilbage som de måske desperat leder efter. Denne her er min favorit.
"I found your camera at Lollapalooza this summer. I finally got the pictures developed and I'd love to give them to you." This picture never got returned back to the people who lost it, but this secret has impacted many lives, starting with a student up in Canada named Matty. Matty was inspired by that secret to start his own website, a website called IFoundYourCamera. Matty invites people to mail him digital cameras that they've found, memory sticks that have been lost with orphan photos. And Matty takes the pictures off these cameras and posts them on his website every week. And people come to visit to see if they can identify a picture they've lost or help somebody else get the photos back to them that they might be desperately searching for. This one's my favorite.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
Matty har fundet en genial måde til at bruge fremmede menneskers venlighed. Og det kan virke som en simpel idé, og det er det, men indvirkningen det kan have på folks liv kan være enorm. Matty delte en emotionel email han havde fået med mig, fra moderen på dette billede. "Det er mig, min mand og min søn. De andre billeder er af min meget syge bedstemor. Tak fordi du lavede din hjemmeside. Disse billeder betyder mere for mig end du aner. Min søns fødsel er på dette kamera. Han bliver fire i morgen." Hvert et billede I ser her og tusindevis af andre, er blevet returneret til de mennesker der har mistet dem -- nogen gange krydser de oceaner, nogen gange krydser de sprogbarrierer.
Matty has found this ingenious way to leverage the kindness of strangers. And it might seem like a simple idea, and it is, but the impact it can have on people's lives can be huge. Matty shared with me an emotional email he received from the mother in that picture. "That's me, my husband and son. The other pictures are of my very ill grandmother. Thank you for making your site. These pictures mean more to me than you know. My son's birth is on this camera. He turns four tomorrow." Every picture that you see there and thousands of others have been returned back to the person who lost it -- sometimes crossing oceans, sometimes going through language barriers.
Dette er det sidste postkort jeg vil dele med jer i dag. "Når mennesker jeg elsker lægger voicemails på min telefon gemmer jeg dem altid, i tilfælde af at de skulle dø i morgen og jeg ikke har andre muligheder for at høre deres stemme igen. Da jeg postede denne hemmelighed sendte snesevis af mennesker voicemail-beskeder fra deres telefoner, nogle gange beskeder de havde gemt i årevis, beskeder fra familie eller venner der var døde. De sagde at ved at gemme deres stemmer og dele dem, hjalp det dem med at holde ånden fra deres kære i live. En ung pige postede den sidste besked hun hørte fra sin bedstemor.
This is the last postcard I have to share with you today. "When people I love leave voicemails on my phone I always save them in case they die tomorrow and I have no other way of hearing their voice ever again." When I posted this secret, dozens of people sent voicemail messages from their phones, sometimes ones they'd been keeping for years, messages from family or friends who had died. They said that by preserving those voices and sharing them, it helped them keep the spirit of their loved ones alive. One young girl posted the last message she ever heard from her grandmother.
Hemmeligheder kan antage mange former. De kan være chokerende eller skøre, eller sjælefulde. De kan forbinde os med vores dybeste menneskelighed eller med mennesker vi aldrig ser igen.
Secrets can take many forms. They can be shocking or silly or soulful. They can connect us with our deepest humanity or with people we'll never meet again.
Voicemail optagelse: Første gemte besked. Bedstemor: ♫ Det er nogens fødselsdag i dag ♫ ♫ Nogens fødselsdag i dag ♫ ♫ Lysene er tændt ♫ ♫ på nogens kage ♫ ♫ Og vi er alle inviteret ♫ ♫ for nogens skyld ♫ Du er 21 år gammel i dag. Hav en rigtig god fødselsdag og jeg elsker dig. Jeg siger farvel for nu.
Voicemail recording: First saved voice message. Grandma: ♫ It's somebody's birthday today ♫ ♫ Somebody's birthday today ♫ ♫ The candles are lighted ♫ ♫ on somebody's cake ♫ ♫ And we're all invited ♫ ♫ for somebody's sake ♫ You're 21 years old today. Have a real happy birthday, and I love you. I'll say bye for now.
FW: Tak.
FW: Thank you.
(Applaus)
(Applause)
Tak.
Thank you.
(Applaus)
(Applause)
June Cohen: Frank, det var smukt, så rørende. Har du nogensinde sendt et postkort til dig selv? Har du nogensinde sendt en hemmelighed til PostSecret?
June Cohen: Frank, that was beautiful, so touching. Have you ever sent yourself a postcard? Have you ever sent in a secret to PostSecret?
FW: Jeg har nogle af mine egne hemmeligheder i hver bog. Jeg tror, på en måde, at grunden til at jeg startede projektet, selv om jeg ikke vidste det dengang, var fordi jeg kæmpede med mine egne hemmeligheder. Og det var gennem crowd-sourcing, det var gennem den venlighed fremmede viste mig, at jeg kunne afsløre dele af min fortid der jagede mig.
FW: I have one of my own secrets in every book. I think in some ways, the reason I started the project, even though I didn't know it at the time, was because I was struggling with my own secrets. And it was through crowd-sourcing, it was through the kindness that strangers were showing me, that I could uncover parts of my past that were haunting me.
JC: Og har nogen nogenside fundet ud af hvilken hemmelighed der var din i bogen? Har nogen i dit liv kunnet se det?
JC: And has anyone ever discovered which secret was yours in the book? Has anyone in your life been able to tell?
FW: Nogen gange deler jeg den information, ja.
FW: Sometimes I share that information, yeah.
(Latter)
(Laughter)
(Applaus)
(Applause)