The truth is that we all carry secrets, this project and the blog post is an anonymous catharsis for those secrets. Confession can set us free. Secrets can be poison, can make us feel like a fraud, it can eat us alive, they can be a horrible burden. We are so afraid that if people our secrets that would never love us or be our friends. The fact is, and I hope to illustrate this with this blog, that we all have secrets. Some will make you profoundly sad, take your breath away and some you may relate to in a personal way.
The source of the confessions is a display I have developed where people may read about the Truth Is project, read previous confessions and anonymously fill out a Truth Is tag and drop it in a box, adding to the display. I may post where the display will be from time to time.
I had to move it to another location due to vandalism.
It was heart-breaking to read the first 6 secrets out of the box- all in different handwriting:
Truth Is....
...I wish I had the guts to kill myself.
...I wish I could go to sleep and never wake up.
...If I knew for sure that I wouldn't end up in Hell I would have killed myself a long time ago.
...No one would miss me if I died.
...I think about suicide all the time. I am not afraid to die, I would welcome it.
...My life is disappointing. I hate myself.
(That was hard to read those one after another. I have been there and I wish I could tell those people that life does get better).
...I am so jealous of my friends, they have the American dream. Somehow I got nothing. I hate them.
...I want to move to Italy and tell no one. I will start over and leave this life behind.
...I like to spy on my neighbors.
...When I was a teenager I use to break into homes and steal stuff to sell for money to buy drugs.
...I have tremendously guilty because I did sexual things with my sister when I was 10.
...I steal stuff all the time, I don't even think about it. If I see something left unattended, I take it.
...I have an eating disorder and I purge after every meal. That is how I stay thin.
...I have recorded myself having sex with over 80 different girls.
...I am so ashamed of my body I don't want anybody to ever see me naked.
...I like black guys. I would never date a white guy.
...I steal prescription drugs from everyone I can.
...I have sex just for fun, guys think they are using me, but I am using them too.
...My life is about hoarding. I have a warehouse full of stuff I have collected over the years.
...I have never given any money to church, even though I have gone all my life.
...I won't go to the dentist because I am afraid. My teeth are killing me but I just can't make myself go.
...I wrecked my mom's car, and I told her a lie to cover it up, but it was my fault.
...I won $10,000 in the lottery and I never told my wife.
