Can I Keep A Secret? – No.

by mybiggestphan

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/locked-and-sealed/

Date: 09/07/14
Prompt: Can you keep a secret? Have you ever — intentionally or not — spilled the beans (when you should’ve stayed quiet)?Title: Can I keep a secret? No.

Answer: 

How juicy is your secret? Are you hiding something that could blow my mind? If so, then I freely welcome you to share it with me and I’ll do my best to keep the secret to myself.

The last sentence is a complete lie. I have never been the best at keeping a secret to myself. I tend to use secrets as a way to excel in my conversations with others and provide myself with ammunition with different topics to talk about. Anything that really strengthen or build excitement when talking to another person is a huge asset and unfortunately, it comes at the expense of the person telling me the secret.

However, I’m not a bad person. Yes I have my faults in not being able to keep a secret but my innate philosophy has always been to try to honor another person’s trust. Not all secrets that others tell me get revealed. In fact, personal secrets that could seriously embarrass or ruin a friendship or destroy another person’s career are things that I would not jeopardize. I do not feel the need to tell others those secrets and to cause misfortunes. However, when faced with a secret or piece of gossip that would do no harm if exposed in small talk, I may get carried away and reveal it in the midst of a conversation. I know it’s not the right thing to do, but it can be a fun thing to do because of how much it stirs up the conversation. That said however, I would not reveal the source unless I am reassured that there will not be a potential backlash from it.

There are secrets that need to be revealed if it jeopardizes the safety of the person with the secret or another human being. I have been presented with secrets where the person was seriously injuring themselves and needed professional help. I worked in jobs where people provided me with confidential information where I had to go to my supervisor for assistance. There are times and circumstances where you can legitimately not hold a secret and it is a judgment call on your end to make sure that you do what is right.

Secrets are fun. Getting told a secret is even better. If you do not want to hurt someone, I encourage that you keep their trust and not expose anything at all. However, if you feel revealing secrets here and there wouldn’t hurt either parties, then I say only you can make the call on whether to keep it or not. Everything is a case by case basis and you are the best determinant in that situation.