0:00:00.000,0:00:02.000
Hi, my name is Frank,

0:00:02.000,0:00:04.000
and I collect secrets.

0:00:04.000,0:00:06.000
It all started with a crazy idea

0:00:06.000,0:00:09.000
in November of 2004.

0:00:09.000,0:00:12.000
I printed up 3,000 self-addressed postcards,

0:00:12.000,0:00:14.000
just like this.

0:00:14.000,0:00:16.000
They were blank on one side,

0:00:16.000,0:00:18.000
and on the other side

0:00:18.000,0:00:20.000
I listed some simple instructions.

0:00:20.000,0:00:23.000
I asked people to anonymously share an artful secret

0:00:23.000,0:00:26.000
they'd never told anyone before.

0:00:26.000,0:00:28.000
And I handed out these postcards randomly

0:00:28.000,0:00:30.000
on the streets of Washington, D.C.,

0:00:30.000,0:00:32.000
not knowing what to expect.

0:00:32.000,0:00:35.000
But soon the idea began spreading virally.

0:00:35.000,0:00:38.000
People began to buy their own postcards

0:00:38.000,0:00:40.000
and make their own postcards.

0:00:40.000,0:00:43.000
I started receiving secrets in my home mailbox,

0:00:43.000,0:00:46.000
not just with postmarks from Washington, D.C.,

0:00:46.000,0:00:48.000
but from Texas, California,

0:00:48.000,0:00:51.000
Vancouver, New Zealand, Iraq.

0:00:51.000,0:00:55.000
Soon my crazy idea didn't seem so crazy.

0:00:55.000,0:00:57.000
PostSecret.com

0:00:57.000,0:01:01.000
is the most visited advertisement-free blog in the world.

0:01:01.000,0:01:04.000
And this is my postcard collection today.

0:01:06.000,0:01:08.000
You can see my wife

0:01:08.000,0:01:10.000
struggling to stack a brick of postcards

0:01:10.000,0:01:14.000
on a pyramid of over a half-million secrets.

0:01:14.000,0:01:16.000
What I'd like to do now

0:01:16.000,0:01:19.000
is share with you a very special handful of secrets

0:01:19.000,0:01:21.000
from that collection,

0:01:21.000,0:01:24.000
starting with this one.

0:01:25.000,0:01:28.000
"I found these stamps as a child,

0:01:28.000,0:01:30.000
and I have been waiting all my life

0:01:30.000,0:01:33.000
to have someone to send them to.

0:01:33.000,0:01:35.000
I never did have someone."

0:01:35.000,0:01:37.000
Secrets can take many forms.

0:01:37.000,0:01:39.000
They can be shocking

0:01:39.000,0:01:42.000
or silly or soulful.

0:01:42.000,0:01:45.000
They can connect us to our deepest humanity

0:01:45.000,0:01:48.000
or with people we'll never meet.

0:01:51.000,0:01:59.000
(Laughter)

0:01:59.000,0:02:01.000
Maybe one of you sent this one in.

0:02:01.000,0:02:03.000
I don't know.

0:02:03.000,0:02:05.000
This one does a great job of demonstrating

0:02:05.000,0:02:07.000
the creativity that people have

0:02:07.000,0:02:09.000
when they make and mail me a postcard.

0:02:09.000,0:02:12.000
This one obviously was made out of half a Starbucks cup

0:02:12.000,0:02:16.000
with a stamp and my home address written on the other side.

0:02:18.000,0:02:21.000
"Dear Birthmother, I have great parents.

0:02:21.000,0:02:24.000
I've found love. I'm happy."

0:02:26.000,0:02:29.000
Secrets can remind us of the countless human dramas,

0:02:29.000,0:02:32.000
of frailty and heroism,

0:02:32.000,0:02:34.000
playing out silently

0:02:34.000,0:02:36.000
in the lives of people all around us

0:02:36.000,0:02:39.000
even now.

0:02:40.000,0:02:44.000
"Everyone who knew me before 9/11

0:02:44.000,0:02:47.000
believes I'm dead."

0:02:53.000,0:02:56.000
"I used to work with a bunch of uptight religious people,

0:02:56.000,0:02:58.000
so sometimes I didn't wear panties,

0:02:58.000,0:03:01.000
and just had a big smile and chuckled to myself."

0:03:01.000,0:03:06.000
(Laughter)

0:03:09.000,0:03:12.000
This next one takes a little explanation before I share it with you.

0:03:12.000,0:03:15.000
I love to speak on college campuses

0:03:15.000,0:03:17.000
and share secrets and the stories with students.

0:03:17.000,0:03:20.000
And sometimes afterwards I'll stick around

0:03:20.000,0:03:23.000
and sign books and take photos with students.

0:03:23.000,0:03:25.000
And this next postcard was made

0:03:25.000,0:03:27.000
out of one of those photos.

0:03:27.000,0:03:29.000
And I should also mention that, just like today,

0:03:29.000,0:03:31.000
at that PostSecret event,

0:03:31.000,0:03:34.000
I was using a wireless microphone.

0:03:36.000,0:03:38.000
"Your mic wasn't off during sound check.

0:03:38.000,0:03:40.000
We all heard you pee."

0:03:40.000,0:03:49.000
(Laughter)

0:03:49.000,0:03:51.000
This was really embarrassing when it happened,

0:03:51.000,0:03:56.000
until I realized it could have been worse.

0:03:56.000,0:03:59.000
Right. You know what I'm saying.

0:03:59.000,0:04:02.000
(Laughter)

0:04:02.000,0:04:04.000
"Inside this envelope

0:04:04.000,0:04:06.000
is the ripped up remains

0:04:06.000,0:04:08.000
of a suicide note I didn't use.

0:04:08.000,0:04:12.000
I feel like the happiest person on Earth (now.)"

0:04:16.000,0:04:19.000
"One of these men is the father of my son.

0:04:19.000,0:04:22.000
He pays me a lot to keep it a secret."

0:04:22.000,0:04:30.000
(Laughter)

0:04:32.000,0:04:35.000
"That Saturday when you wondered where I was,

0:04:35.000,0:04:37.000
well, I was getting your ring.

0:04:37.000,0:04:39.000
It's in my pocket right now."

0:04:39.000,0:04:42.000
I had this postcard posted on the PostSecret blog

0:04:42.000,0:04:44.000
two years ago on Valentine's Day.

0:04:44.000,0:04:47.000
It was the very bottom, the last secret in the long column.

0:04:47.000,0:04:50.000
And it hadn't been up for more than a couple hours

0:04:50.000,0:04:52.000
before I received this exuberant email

0:04:52.000,0:04:54.000
from the guy who mailed me this postcard.

0:04:54.000,0:04:57.000
And he said, "Frank, I've got to share with you

0:04:57.000,0:04:59.000
this story that just played out in my life."

0:04:59.000,0:05:02.000
He said, "My knees are still shaking."

0:05:02.000,0:05:05.000
He said, "For three years, my girlfriend and I,

0:05:05.000,0:05:07.000
we've made it this Sunday morning ritual

0:05:07.000,0:05:09.000
to visit the PostSecret blog together

0:05:09.000,0:05:11.000
and read the secrets out loud.

0:05:11.000,0:05:14.000
I read some to her, she reads some to me."

0:05:14.000,0:05:16.000
He says, "It's really brought us closer together

0:05:16.000,0:05:18.000
through the years.

0:05:18.000,0:05:20.000
And so when I discovered

0:05:20.000,0:05:22.000
that you had posted

0:05:22.000,0:05:24.000
my surprise proposal to my girlfriend at the very bottom,

0:05:24.000,0:05:26.000
I was beside myself.

0:05:26.000,0:05:28.000
And I tried to act calm, not to give anything away.

0:05:28.000,0:05:30.000
And just like every Sunday,

0:05:30.000,0:05:34.000
we started reading the secrets out loud to each other."

0:05:34.000,0:05:37.000
He said, "But this time it seemed like it was taking her forever

0:05:37.000,0:05:39.000
to get through each one."

0:05:39.000,0:05:41.000
But she finally did.

0:05:41.000,0:05:44.000
She got to that bottom secret, his proposal to her.

0:05:44.000,0:05:49.000
And he said, "She read it once and then she read it again."

0:05:49.000,0:05:51.000
And she turned to him and said,

0:05:51.000,0:05:53.000
"Is that our cat?"

0:05:53.000,0:06:01.000
(Laughter)

0:06:01.000,0:06:03.000
And when she saw him,

0:06:03.000,0:06:05.000
he was down on one knee, he had the ring out.

0:06:05.000,0:06:08.000
He popped the question, she said yes. It was a very happy ending.

0:06:08.000,0:06:10.000
So I emailed him back

0:06:10.000,0:06:12.000
and I said, "Please share with me an image, something,

0:06:12.000,0:06:15.000
that I can share with the whole PostSecret community

0:06:15.000,0:06:18.000
and let everyone know your fairy tale ending."

0:06:18.000,0:06:20.000
And he emailed me this picture.

0:06:20.000,0:06:24.000
(Laughter)

0:06:25.000,0:06:28.000
"I found your camera at Lollapalooza this summer.

0:06:28.000,0:06:31.000
I finally got the pictures developed

0:06:31.000,0:06:35.000
and I'd love to give them to you."

0:06:35.000,0:06:37.000
This picture never got returned back

0:06:37.000,0:06:40.000
to the people who lost it,

0:06:40.000,0:06:43.000
but this secret has impacted many lives,

0:06:43.000,0:06:45.000
starting with a student up in Canada

0:06:45.000,0:06:47.000
named Matty.

0:06:47.000,0:06:49.000
Matty was inspired by that secret

0:06:49.000,0:06:51.000
to start his own website,

0:06:51.000,0:06:54.000
a website called IFoundYourCamera.

0:06:54.000,0:06:56.000
Matty invites people

0:06:56.000,0:06:59.000
to mail him digital cameras that they've found,

0:06:59.000,0:07:01.000
memory sticks that have been lost

0:07:01.000,0:07:03.000
with orphan photos.

0:07:03.000,0:07:05.000
And Matty takes the pictures off these cameras

0:07:05.000,0:07:08.000
and posts them on his website every week.

0:07:08.000,0:07:10.000
And people come to visit

0:07:10.000,0:07:13.000
to see if they can identify a picture they've lost

0:07:13.000,0:07:16.000
or help somebody else get the photos back to them

0:07:16.000,0:07:20.000
that they might be desperately searching for.

0:07:20.000,0:07:22.000
This one's my favorite.

0:07:22.000,0:07:25.000
(Laughter)

0:07:25.000,0:07:29.000
Matty has found this ingenious way

0:07:29.000,0:07:32.000
to leverage the kindness of strangers.

0:07:32.000,0:07:35.000
And it might seem like a simple idea, and it is,

0:07:35.000,0:07:38.000
but the impact it can have on people's lives can be huge.

0:07:38.000,0:07:40.000
Matty shared with me

0:07:40.000,0:07:42.000
an emotional email he received

0:07:42.000,0:07:46.000
from the mother in that picture.

0:07:46.000,0:07:49.000
"That's me, my husband and son.

0:07:49.000,0:07:53.000
The other pictures are of my very ill grandmother.

0:07:53.000,0:07:55.000
Thank you for making your site.

0:07:55.000,0:07:58.000
These pictures mean more to me than you know.

0:07:58.000,0:08:00.000
My son's birth is on this camera.

0:08:00.000,0:08:03.000
He turns four tomorrow."

0:08:04.000,0:08:06.000
Every picture that you see there

0:08:06.000,0:08:08.000
and thousands of others

0:08:08.000,0:08:10.000
have been returned back to the person who lost it --

0:08:10.000,0:08:12.000
sometimes crossing oceans,

0:08:12.000,0:08:15.000
sometimes going through language barriers.

0:08:17.000,0:08:20.000
This is the last postcard I have to share with you today.

0:08:20.000,0:08:23.000
"When people I love

0:08:23.000,0:08:25.000
leave voicemails on my phone

0:08:25.000,0:08:28.000
I always save them in case they die tomorrow

0:08:28.000,0:08:30.000
and I have no other way

0:08:30.000,0:08:33.000
of hearing their voice ever again."

0:08:34.000,0:08:36.000
When I posted this secret,

0:08:36.000,0:08:38.000
dozens of people

0:08:38.000,0:08:40.000
sent voicemail messages from their phones,

0:08:40.000,0:08:43.000
sometimes ones they'd been keeping for years,

0:08:43.000,0:08:46.000
messages from family or friends

0:08:46.000,0:08:49.000
who had died.

0:08:49.000,0:08:51.000
They said that by preserving those voices

0:08:51.000,0:08:53.000
and sharing them,

0:08:53.000,0:08:58.000
it helped them keep the spirit of their loved ones alive.

0:08:58.000,0:09:00.000
One young girl

0:09:00.000,0:09:02.000
posted the last message

0:09:02.000,0:09:05.000
she ever heard from her grandmother.

0:09:06.000,0:09:09.000
Secrets can take many forms.

0:09:09.000,0:09:12.000
They can be shocking or silly

0:09:12.000,0:09:14.000
or soulful.

0:09:14.000,0:09:16.000
They can connect us with our deepest humanity

0:09:16.000,0:09:21.000
or with people we'll never meet again.

0:09:21.000,0:09:24.000
Voicemail recording: First saved voice message.

0:09:25.000,0:09:30.000
Grandma: ♫ It's somebody's birthday today ♫

0:09:30.000,0:09:34.000
♫ Somebody's birthday today ♫

0:09:34.000,0:09:37.000
♫ The candles are lighted ♫

0:09:37.000,0:09:40.000
♫ on somebody's cake ♫

0:09:40.000,0:09:43.000
♫ And we're all invited ♫

0:09:43.000,0:09:45.000
♫ for somebody's sake ♫

0:09:45.000,0:09:48.000
You're 21 years old today.

0:09:48.000,0:09:51.000
Have a real happy birthday, and I love you.

0:09:51.000,0:09:53.000
I'll say bye for now.

0:09:53.000,0:09:55.000
FW: Thank you.

0:09:55.000,0:10:01.000
(Applause)

0:10:01.000,0:10:03.000
Thank you.

0:10:03.000,0:10:14.000
(Applause)

0:10:14.000,0:10:16.000
June Cohen: Frank, that was beautiful,

0:10:16.000,0:10:18.000
so touching.

0:10:18.000,0:10:20.000
Have you ever sent yourself a postcard?

0:10:20.000,0:10:22.000
Have you ever sent in a secret to PostSecret?

0:10:22.000,0:10:25.000
FW: I have one of my own secrets in every book.

0:10:25.000,0:10:28.000
I think in some ways, the reason I started the project,

0:10:28.000,0:10:30.000
even though I didn't know it at the time,

0:10:30.000,0:10:33.000
was because I was struggling with my own secrets.

0:10:33.000,0:10:35.000
And it was through crowd-sourcing,

0:10:35.000,0:10:38.000
it was through the kindness that strangers were showing me,

0:10:38.000,0:10:40.000
that I could uncover

0:10:40.000,0:10:43.000
parts of my past that were haunting me.

0:10:43.000,0:10:45.000
JC: And has anyone ever discovered

0:10:45.000,0:10:47.000
which secret was yours in the book?

0:10:47.000,0:10:49.000
Has anyone in your life been able to tell?

0:10:49.000,0:10:51.000
FW: Sometimes I share that information, yeah.

0:10:51.000,0:10:54.000
(Laughter)

0:10:54.000,0:11:02.000
(Applause)