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.
Ola, o meu nome é Frank e colecciono segredos. Todo comezou cunha idea tola en novembro do 2004. Imprimín máis de 3000 postais coa miña dirección, xusto coma esta. Estaban en branco por un lado, e no outro lado listei unhas instrucións sinxelas. Pedínlle a xente que compartise anonimamente un segredo enxeñoso que nunca lle contaran a ninguén. E repartín esas postais ó azar polas rúas de Washington D.C. sen saber que agardar.
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.
Pero a idea deseguida empezou a expandirse. A xente empezou a mercar as súas propias postais e a facer as súas propias postais. Comecei a recibir segredos na caixa de correo da miña casa, non só con mataselos de Washington D.C., senón de Texas, California, Vancouver, Nova Zelandia, Iraq. De súpeto a miña tolemia non parecía tal tolemia. PostSecret.com é o blog sen publicidade máis visitado do mundo. E esta é a miña colección de postais no presente. Podedes ver á miña muller intentando amorear un montón de postais nunha pirámide de máis de medio millón de segredos.
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.
O que me gustaría facer agora é compartir con vós unha manda moi especial de segredos desa colección, empezando por este. "Atopei estes selos cando era neno, e agardei toda a vida a ter alguén a quen mandarllos. Nunca tiven a ninguén." Os segredos poden adoptar moitas formas. Poden ser impactantes, parvos ou conmovedores. Poden conectarnos coa nosa humanidade máis profunda ou con xente que nunca coñeceremos. Poño descafeinado ós clientes que son groseiros comigo! (Risos) Pode que un de vós enviara este. Non o sei. Este amosa moi ben a creatividade da xente cando fan e me envían unha postal. Esta obviamente está feita coa metade dun vaso do Starbucks cun selo e a miña dirección escrita no outro lado.
"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."
"Querida nai biolóxica, teño uns pais xeniais. Atopei amor. Son feliz". Os segredos poden lembrarnos os incontables dramas humanos, debilidades e heroísmo, actuando silandeiramente nas vidas da xente do noso arredor mesmo agora. "Todo o mundo que me coñecía antes do 11S cre que estou morto". "Adoitaba traballar cunha manda de persoas relixiosas pechadas, así que de cando en vez non levaba bragas e simplemente amosaba un gran sorriso e ría por dentro".
(Laughter)
(Risos)
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.
O seguinte precisa unha pequena explicación antes de que volo ensine. Encántame falar nos campus universitarios e compartir segredos e historias cos estudantes. E ás veces quedo despois e asino libros e fágome fotos cos estudantes. E a seguinte postal está feita cunha desas fotos. E tamén debo mencionar que, igual que hoxe, no evento de PostSecret, estaba a usar un micrófono sen cables. "O teu micrófono non estaba apagado durante a proba de son. Todos te escoitamos mexar". (Risos) Isto foi moi avergoñante cando sucedeu, ata que me decatei de que podería ser peor. Sabedes o que quero dicir.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
"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."
"Dentro deste sobre están os anacos rotos dunha carta de suicidio que non usei. Síntome como a persoa máis feliz do mundo (agora)". "Un destes homes é o pai do meu fillo. Pagoume unha morea para que mantivera o segredo".
(Laughter)
(Risos)
"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.
"Aquel sábado que te preguntabas onde estaba, ben, estaba mercando o teu anel. Está no meu peto nestes momentos". Publiquei esta postal no blog de PostSecret hai dous anos no día de San Valentín. Estaba abaixo de todo, o último segredo da longa columna. E non pasaran máis de un par de horas cando recibín este exuberante e-mail do rapaz que me enviara esta postal.
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.
Dicía: "Frank, teño que compartir contigo a historia que acaba de pasar na miña vida". Dicía: "Os meus xeonllos aínda están a tremer". Dicía: "Hai tres anos que a miña moza e máis eu temos o ritual matinal dos domingos de visitar o blog de PostSecret xuntos e ler os segredos en voz alta. Eu léolle uns a ela, ela leme outros a min". Dicía: "iso realmente nos uniu durante estes anos.
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.
E entón cando descubrín que colgaras a miña proposición sorpresa para a miña moza ó final de todo, estaba fóra de min. Intentei actuar con calma, non amosar nada. E coma cada domingo comezamos a ler os segredos en voz alto un ó outro". Dicía: "pero esta vez parecía que tardaba anos en pasar dun ó outro". Pero finalmente o fixo. Chegou o segredo do final, a súa proposición para ela. E dicía: "leuno unha vez, e despois o volveu ler." Virouse cara el e lle dixo. "Non é ese o noso gato?" (Risos) E cando o mirou estaba cun xeonllo no chan, ensinándolle o anel. Fíxolle a pregunta, dixo que si. Foi un final moi feliz.
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.
Así que lle respondín e lle dixen, "Por favor, mándame unha imaxe ou algo que poida compartir con toda a comunidade de PostSecret para que todo o mundo saiba o final da túa historia de conto". E mandoume esta fotografía.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
"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.
"Atopei a túa cámara en Lollapalooza este verán. Por fin as levei a revelar e gustaríame darchas". Esta fotografía nunca foi devolta á xente que a perdera, pero este segredo impactou en moitas vidas, empezando cun estudante de Canadá chamado Matty. Matty inspirouse neste segredo para empezar o seu propio sitio web, unha web chamada IFoundYourCamera. Matty invita a xente a enviarlle cámaras dixitais que atoparan, memorias que se perderan con fotos orfas. E Matty colle as fotografías desas cámaras e as colga na súa web cada semana. E a xente as visita para ver se poden identificar una fotografía que perderan ou axudar a alguén a recuperar as fotografías que pode que estiveran buscando desesperadamente. Esta é a miña favorita.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
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.
Matty atopou esta enxeñosa maneira de aumentar a amabilidade dos descoñecidos. E pode parecer unha idea simple, e o é, pero o impacto que pode ter na vida das persoas pode ser enorme. Matty compartiu comigo un emotivo e-mail que recibiu da nai desta fotografía. "Esta son eu co meu marido e o meu fillo. As outras fotografías son da miña avoa, que está moi enferma. Grazas por crear este sitio. Estas fotografías significan para min máis do que poidas imaxinar. O nacemento do meu fillo está nesta cámara. Mañá cumpre catro anos". Cada fotografía que podedes ver aí e outros centos foron devoltas á persoa que as perdera, as veces cruzando océanos, outras superando a barreira da linguaxe.
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.
Esta é a última postal que teño para compartir con vós hoxe. "Cando a xente que quero deixa mensaxes de voz no meu teléfono sempre os gardo por se acaso morren mañá e non teño outra maneira de escoitar a súa voz outra vez". Cando colguei este segredo, ducias de persoas enviaron mensaxes de voz dos seus teléfonos ás veces algúns que os tiveran gardados durante anos mensaxes da familia ou amigos que morreran. Dixeron que preservando esas voces e compartíndoas axudábanlles a manter o espírito dos seres queridos vivo. Unha rapariga xove colgou a última mensaxe que escoitara da súa avoa.
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.
Os segredos poden adoptar moitas formas. Poden ser impactantes ou parvos ou conmovedores. Poden conectarnos coa nosa humanidade máis profunda ou con xente que nunca volveremos ver.
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.
Mensaxe de voz: primeira mensaxe de voz gardada Avoa: ♫ É o aniversario de alguén hoxe ♫ ♫ O aniversario de alguén hoxe ♫ ♫ As candeas están acesas ♫ ♫ na torta de alguén ♫ ♫ E todos estamos convidados ♫ ♫ á torta de alguén ♫ Hoxe cumpres 21 anos. Que teñas un moi feliz aniversario, quérote. Adeus de momento.
FW: Thank you.
FW: Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
Thank you.
Grazas.
(Applause)
(Aplausos)
June Cohen: Frank, that was beautiful, so touching. Have you ever sent yourself a postcard? Have you ever sent in a secret to PostSecret?
June Cohen: Frank, iso foi precioso, tan emotivo. Algunha vez enviácheste a ti mesmo unha postal? Algunha vez enviaches un segredo a PostSecret?
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.
FW: Teño un segredo propio en cada libro. Creo que, dalgunha maneira, a razón pola que comecei o proxecto, aínda que non o soubera nese momento foi porque estaba pelexando cos meus propios segredos. E foi grazas á externalización, a través da amabilidade que os descoñecidos me amosaban, que puiden destapar partes do meu pasado que me estaban a perseguir.
JC: And has anyone ever discovered which secret was yours in the book? Has anyone in your life been able to tell?
JC: E algunha vez alguén descubriu cal era o teu segredo no libro? Alguén da túa vida o conseguiu descubrir?
FW: Sometimes I share that information, yeah.
FW: Algunhas veces comparto esa información, si.
(Laughter)
(Risos)
(Applause)
(Aplausos)