It’s interesting to me that if you ask most people if they like secrets, they’ll say no. Or at least in relation to them not knowing the secrets they don’t like them. People love secrets that they’re in on. That’s why it’s so hard not to eavesdrop.
However, when you ask people if they like surprises, not all, but many people will say yes. People like to be surprised, but they don’t like secrets. How can these co-exist? Apparently, people don’t like secrets unless they are such well-kept secrets that they don’t know about them until you reveal them in a climactic way.
Without secrets, there are no surprises, so really, secrets do make friends. In face, secrets make for best friends. Friends that are willing to keep a secret from you to surprise you and give you more joy later.
The whole gift-giving tradition of Christmas falls apart if you get rid of secrets. Which makes me wonder something on a deeper level. What if there was no such thing as a secret? Literally, the possibility of something being kept a secret was impossible. Everyone knew what everyone else knew.
For one, life would be pretty boring if we all knew what everyone else knew, but realizing what the governments around the world would look like. People in leadership couldn’t get away with terrible things anymore (or could they?) The crime rate would go down exponentially (or would it?)
So many questions to be asked if there was no longer such a thing as a secret.
The more I think about it, the more grateful I am for secrets. Privacy can be one of the greatest killers to friendships, relationships, countries, etc. But it is also something that adds a lot of joy to life.
Here’s to secrets!