It’s Better To Give Than To Receive

I waited a full 48 hours. I couldn’t wait any longer. It was time. There they were, seven of them. Stacked one on top of the other, as if to form a mountain of hope. They rested on a display table next to a politian’s book of lies. It seems appropriate that a book of truths would be paired next to it. A Ying-Yang balance of the written word. The jacket cover reads “A Lifetime Of Secrets” by Frank Warren. It’s a thick, heavy hardback – easily double the size of his last PostSecret book release. I pick from the top of the pile, thumbing thru the pages like a flipbook. Looking. Hoping. Telling myself that this will be the one that a postcard will flutter out of. To my dismay, nothing.

I peered over my left shoulder. I looked to my right. The coast was clear, no one in sight. Surely people would think I was nuts if they witnessed my behavior. I had six more tries. I imagine this is the sensation that little old ladies experience as they scratch off their $5 lottery ticket. Wishing, praying that today just may be their lucky day. I flipped. I scanned. I weeded. I turned them upside down. I even tried shaking a secret out. One by one, I went thru each book thinking that surely I wasn’t going to be the only person slipping my secret postcard inside. However, at this particular Barnes & Noble, it seems I was.

I’ll admit, it was a bit of a letdown. I honestly thought that at least one other person would have followed the “movement”. Maybe I built this up too much in my head, but I really felt that if a stranger’s secret fell into my lap, that somehow it would change my world. I would embrace it in a black and white frame and hang it in my bedroom.

Perhaps the word wasn’t spread online as well as it could have been. Or perhaps people said they too were going to do it, had every intention of doing it, but at the last minute chickened out. I suppose I can understand that, but I’m glad I stuck to my word and followed thru. So yes, it’s out there – my secret. It’s tucked between the pages. And, I’m not even the least bit curious who finds it. It will flutter to their feet, not realizing that the motion in which the postcard drops to the earth mimics the movement of the pen I held while writing it. With each passing ink-filled swoop, the words joined to form my secret. Just like a butterfly, it too gently flies away allowing the wind to take it where it may.

Today is just another reminder that my Mother was right when she told me it is better to give than to receive. And when you give, you will always receive something in return. Even if that something isn’t tangible, you will be rewarded. To feel that sense of relief as a weight lifts is a gift in itself. I’m happy to of given myself that early birthday gift.

***UPDATE***
Visit PostSecretCommunity.com – a new website from Frank Warren.