The White Hats
Written by: Nessa
"In November 2004, I printed 3,000 postcards inviting people to share a secret with me: something that was true, something they had never told anyone. I handed out these cards at subway stations, I left them in art galleries, and I slipped them between the pages of library books. Then slowly, secrets began to find their way to my mailbox.
After several weeks I stopped passing out postcards but the secrets kept coming. Homemade postcards made from cardboard, old photographs, wedding invitations, and other personal items artfully decorated arrived from all over the world. Some of the secrets were written in Portuguese, French, German, Hebrew, and even Braille."
Thats what Frank Warren, the creator of PostSecret, wrote in his first book, PostSecret, Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives.
Since the start of PostSecret, three books have been compiled and Mr. Warren has traveled all over the United States and parts of England, talking about his project and sharing the magic of Postsecret. Two years after the start of the Postsecret project, frequent watchers of Postsecret are finding ways to connect with each other in real life.
One batch of Sunday secrets brought with it this postcard which said, "I take comfort in the darkness of the movie theatre, waiting for someone else to come alone, too. I know you're out there. Maybe some day we'll meet."
Shortly after those secrets were public, a email response was posted under the theatre postcard:
-----Email Message-----
Sent: Sunday, December 3, 2006 8:22 AM
"This Saturday evening I will be waiting for you too. This invitation does not mean that I want to do anything or talk during the movie. But when the darkness leaves the theatre, perhaps we will look into each other's eyes, smile, decide to get a cup of coffee and share a conversation over what we just saw.
-waiting with a white hat"
Emails began to pour in, more and more people are beginning to don white hats on their lonely Saturday nights to the movies. Now they have their own blog and every week new email messages are posted. People sharing trips to the theater, new friends met, and just talking about the general sense of belonging to something, even if they do not find another 'white-hatter'.
A simple item, such as a white hat, can give so many people courage and hope. Courage to talk to someone they would normally shy away from, courage to put themselves out there and try new things. Hope for the future, hope for a new-found friend, and hope to feel just a little less lonely.
Note: The actual postcard cannot be shown here due to the terms & conditions of the PostSecret website, "No image from this site may be used for any purpose without expressed written authorization, with one exception; you may post one image as a link to this site." Unfortunately, the postcards are not always family friendly and cannot be linked on PPT.
Lillie has a white hat.
Nessa has yet to wear her white hat.
Matterbug made this icon with his mad MS Paint skillz of d00m. PWNED! Picture from here.
