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.
Zdravo, moje ime je Frank i skupljam tajne. Sve je počelo kao luda ideja u studenom 2004. Isprintao sam 3.000 razglednica s vlastitom adresom, poput ove. Bile su prazne na jednoj strani, a na drugoj sam strani naveo neke jednostavne upute. Zamolio sam ljude da anonimno podijele skrivenu tajnu koju još nikome do sada nisu rekli. Dijelio sam ove razglednice nasumično na ulicama Washingtona, ne znajući što mogu očekivati.
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.
No, ubrzo se ideja počela brzinski širiti. Ljudi su počeli kupovati razglednice i sami ih izrađivati. Počeo sam dobivati tajne u poštanski sandučić, ne samo s markicama iz Washingtona već i iz Teksasa, Kalifornije, Vancouvera, Novog Zelanda, Iraka. Ubzo se moja luda ideja nije činila tako ludom. PostSecret.com najposjećeniji je blog na svijetu koji ne sadrži reklame, a ovo je moja kolekcija razglednica danas. Možete vidjeti kako se moja žena muči ne bi li složila blok razglednica navrh piramide s više od pola milijuna tajni.
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.
Ono što bih sada volio učiniti je podijeliti s vama veoma poseban pregršt tajni iz te kolekcije, počevši s ovom. „Pronašao sam ove markice kao dijete i čekao sam cijeli svoj život da ih nekome pošaljem. Nikada ih nisam imao kome poslati.“ Tajne mogu poprimiti razne oblike. Mogu biti šokantne, lude ili dubokih emocija. Mogu nas povezati s našom najdubljom ljudskošću ili s ljudima koje nikad nećemo sresti. (Smijeh) Možda je netko od vas poslao ovu. Ne znam. Ova nam daje odličan prikaz kreativnosti koju ljudi posjeduju kada mi izrađuju i šalju razglednice. Ova je očito napravljena od polovice Starbucksove šalice s markicom i mojom adresom napisanom na drugoj strani.
"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."
„Draga biološka majko, imam odlične roditelje. Pronašla sam ljubav. Sretna sam.“ Tajne nas mogu podsjetiti na nebrojene ljudske drame, na slabost i junaštvo koje postoji neznatno u životima ljudi svuda oko nas čak i sada. „Svi koji su me poznavali prije 11. rujna 2001. sada misle da sam mrtav.“ „Radila sam s hrpom napetih religioznih ljudi pa ponekad nisam nosila gaćice i jednostavno sam imala veliki osmijeh i cerekala sam se samoj sebi.“
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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.
Sljedeća zahtijeva malo objašnjenje prije no što je podijelim s vama. Volim držati govore na kampusima fakulteta i dijeliti tajne i priče sa studentima, a ponekad se nakon toga zadržim, potpisujem knjige i slikam se sa studentima. Sljedeća razglednica napravljena je od jedne od tih fotografija. Također bih morao spomenuti da sam, kao i danas, na tom PostSecret događaju koristio bežični mikrofon. „Tvoj mikrofon nije bio isključen tijekom tonske probe. Svi smo čuli kako piškiš.“ (Smijeh) Ovo je bilo prilično neugodno kad se dogodilo, dok nisam shvatio da je moglo biti i gore. Da. Znate o čemu pričam.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
"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."
„Unutar su ove omotnice poderani ostaci oproštajnog pisma prije samoubojstva koje nisam učinio. Osjećam se kao najsretnija osoba na Zemlji (trenutno).“ „Jedan od ovih ljudi je otac mog sina. Mnogo mi plaća da to držim u tajnosti.“
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
"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.
„Te subote kada si se pitala gdje sam, pa eto, išao sam ti po prsten. Sada je u mom džepu.“ Objavio sam ovu razglednicu na PostSecret blogu prije dvije godine na Valentinovo. Bila je na samom kraju, posljednja tajna u dugom stupcu. I nije bila gore više od nekoliko sati kad sam primio ovaj opsežan mail od čovjeka koji mi je poslao ovu razglednicu.
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.
A on je rekao, „Frank, moram s tobom podijeliti ovu priču koja se upravo dogodila u mom životu.“ Rekao je, „Koljena mi se još uvijek tresu.“ Rekao je, „Već tri godine moja djevojka i ja imamo ritual da svake nedjelje ujutro posjetimo PostSecret blog zajedno i čitamo tajne naglas. Ja njoj čitam neke, ona meni čita neke.“ Kaže, „To nas je zaista zbližilo tijekom godina.“
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.
Kad sam otkrio da si objavio moju iznenadnu prosidbu djevojci na samom dnu, bio sam van sebe. Pokušao sam se ponašati normalno, kako se ne bih odao, no baš kao i svake nedjelje, počeli smo čitati tajne naglas jedno drugome.“ Kaže, „No, ovog se puta činilo kao da joj cijela vječnost treba da prođe kroz svaku tajnu.“ No konačno je stigla. Došla je do tajne na dnu, njegove prosidbe. Kaže on, „Pročitala ju je jednom, a onda ju je pročitala još jednom.“ Okrenula se prema njemu i rekla, „Je li to naša mačka?“ (Smijeh) A kad ga je ugledala, klečao je i izvadio prsten. Izrekao je pitanje, a ona je pristala. Bio je to veoma sretan završetak.
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.
Odgovorio sam mu na mail i rekao, „Molim te, podijeli sa mnom sliku ili nešto što mogu podijeliti s cijelom PostSecret zajednicom i dati svima do znanja kako je završila vaša bajka.“ Poslao mi je ovu sliku.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
"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.
„Pronašla sam tvoj fotoaparat na Lollapaloozi ovo ljeto. Konačno sam razvila slike i voljela bih ti ih dati.“ Ova se slika nikad nije vratila ljudima koji su ju izgubili, no ova je tajna utjecala na mnoge živote, počevši sa studentom u Kanadi po imenu Matty. Matty je bio nadahnut tom tajnom te je napravio vlastitu internet stranicu pod imenom IFoundYourCamera (*PronašaoSamTvojFotoaparat). Matty poziva ljude da mu pošalju digitalne fotoaparate koje pronađu, memory stickove koji su izgubljeni sa sirotim slikama. Matty skida slike s tih fotoaparata i objavljuje ih svaki tjedan na svojoj stranici, a ljudi dolaze vidjeti mogu li naći sliku koju su izgubili ili pomoći nekome drugome da dobije natrag slike koje možda očajnički traži. Ovo mi je najdraža.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
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 je pronašao ovaj genijalan način da utječe na ljubaznost stranaca no, to se može činiti kao jednostavna ideja, što i je, ali utjecaj koji može imati na ljudske živote može biti ogroman. Matty je sa mnom podijelio emotivni mail koji je primio od majke na toj slici. „Ovo smo ja, moj muž i sin. Ostale slike su slike moje veoma bolesne bake. Hvala što si napravio ovu stranicu. Ove mi slike znače više no što možeš zamisliti. Rođenje mog sina na ovom je fotoaparatu. Sutra će napuniti četiri godine.“ Svaka slika koju tamo vidite i tisuće ostalih bile su vraćene natrag osobi koja ih je izgubila -- ponekad preko oceana, ponekad prelazeći jezične granice.
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.
Ovo je posljednja razglednica koju moram podijeliti s vama. „Kada ljudi koje volim ostavljaju glasovne poruke na mom telefonu, uvijek ih sačuvam u slučaju da sutra umru i nemam drugi način na koji bih više ikada ponovno mogao čuti njihov glas.“ Kada sam objavio ovu tajnu, deseci ljudi poslali su glasovne poruke sa svojih telefona, ponekad neke koje su čuvali godinama, poruke od obitelji ili prijatelja koji su umrli. Kažu da im čuvanje tih glasova i dijeljenje istih pomaže u očuvanju duha njihovih voljenih živim. Jedna je mlada djevojka objavila posljednju poruku koju je ikada čula od svoje bake.
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.
Tajne mogu poprimiti razne oblike. Mogu biti šokantne, lude ili dubokih emocija. Mogu nas povezati s našom najdubljom ljudskošću ili s ljudima koje više nikad nećemo sresti.
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.
Zapis govorne pošte: Prva sačuvana glasovna poruka. Baka: ♫ Danas je nečiji rođendan ♫ ♫ Nečiji rođendan ♫ ♫ Svijećice su upaljene ♫ ♫ na nečijoj torti ♫ ♫ I svi smo pozvani ♫ ♫ zbog nekog razloga ♫ Danas imaš 21 godinu. Neka ti je zaista sretan rođendan i volim te. Za sada te pozdravljam.
FW: Thank you.
FW: Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)
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, ovo je bilo divno, toliko dirljivo. Jesi li ikad sam sebi poslao razglednicu? Jesi li ikada poslao tajnu na 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: Imam jednu od svojih tajni u svakoj knjizi. Na neki način mislim kako je razlog što sam započeo ovaj projekt, iako to nisam znao u to doba, bilo to što sam se borio s vlastitim tajnama. I masa mi je pokazala, ljubaznost stranaca mi je pokazala da mogu otkriti dijelove svoje prošlosti koja me progonila.
JC: And has anyone ever discovered which secret was yours in the book? Has anyone in your life been able to tell?
JC: Je li itko ikada otkrio koja je to vaša tajna u knjizi? Je li to itko ikada uspio otkriti?
FW: Sometimes I share that information, yeah.
FW: Ponekad podijelim tu informaciju, da.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
(Applause)
(Pljesak)