By Damien Ghosh
The Business of Keeping Secrets
The business of keeping secrets is a rather complicated affair. That's because everyone's after secrets. If anyone ever gets to know that you are keeping a secret, they'll follow you or jump at you like a sniffer dog in order to get at your secret. It is a well-established fact that people are hungry for secrets even more than they are hungry for food. Such is the power of attraction of a secret. You can keep anything in your safe custody safely except for a secret. The moment people know that you have a secret, they'll hound you till you go mad and blurt out your secret in sheer frustration. Sometimes, keeping a secret necessitates that you involve another person in the secret. This can be a perfectly terrifying situation. You won't know whom to trust with your secret. The person whom you think will keep your secret ably may be the first person to go and blab out your secret to your neighbors, colleagues and so-called friends. Or he or she may double-cross you, pretending to keep your secret while working for your adversary. The person might deceive you into thinking that they are loyal to you by disclosing to you your adversary's secret. This way the person is trusted by both you and your adversary while they are working for neither but themselves. So, you can well imagine the perils of trusting anyone with your secret.
Who Can Keep Your Secret a Secret? Mum's the Answer
A secret can be a secret thought, a secret wish, a secret letter, a secret meeting, a secret happening, a secret affair, a secret action, and any other kind of secret. This world is full of secrets and some of us believe that we've been born here to unearth the secrets of the Earth. Almost each of us has a secret that we'd like to keep firmly locked within ourselves. But it is hard to keep even your own secrets. Often, human beings feel the excruciating need to unburden their minds as a result of being weighed down by secrets, to share their secrets with a close friend. But herein lies the problem. Who is to occupy the place of a close friend? Research has showed that mothers are the best secret-keepers. Mothers have a natural love and compassion for their children that prompts them to keep their kids' secrets absolutely safe. But apart from mothers, it seems that there's no one else you can trust with your secrets. Friends almost always let the cat out of the bag to have a good laugh behind your back. If you tell a friend that something's top secret and to be kept hush-hush, the friend will immediately spill the beans to another friend saying that it is top secret and should be kept hush-hush. In the end, you'll find everybody's discussing you and your secret in a hush-hush manner. Partners tend to misuse secrets when they're having a fight. Whatever you've told your partner when both of you have been very close will be misused and made public, the moment you squabble. Siblings may also laugh at your expense if they are privy to your secrets and know that you have something to conceal. Your weak points offer great opportunities to siblings who consider themselves to be your rivals and who compete with you to acquire family wealth. Fathers of the old school, who are egotistic, ambitious and proud, do not make good keepers of confidences because they are simply unapproachable. But of course, there are exceptions to everything. There are buddies who'd die to rescue and preserve their friends' secrets. There are partners who'd willingly play the cloak-and-dagger game to cover up for the clandestine moves of their partners. There are siblings who'd go out of their way to back up erring brothers and sisters, to camouflage their shortcomings, who'd go the extra mile to protect their own blood relations at any cost. Barring all exceptions to all rules, mothers are the best protectors of their kids and their kids' secrets.
People Who Are Never to Be Trusted with Even a Single Secret
Even if there are exceptions to the rule in the case of friends and family members, there aren't any exceptions to the rule in the case of colleagues. Research conducted across large samples representative of large populations show that colleagues can be the worst secret keepers of the planet. As office colleagues are always competing with each other for higher salaries, promotions and recognitions from upper management, they don't think twice before making public their rivals' weaknesses which they learn through mutual association or from the grapevine. The corporate world thrives on competitions, victories, defeats, the gaining of competitive advantages, the ousting of competitors by grabbing their market share, and winning at the expense of others. So, this is a world where secrets just can't be kept. Senior managers of one company frequently hire detectives and employ spies to infiltrate rival companies in order to acquire the latter's business secrets. By acquiring the business secrets of rival companies, they gain a strategic advantage that helps them to overthrow their competitors. So, it is very tough to keep a secret in the ruthless corporate world.
Hey! I Have A Secret To Divulge About Myself...Oh, Please Listen Everybody...
There are some amongst us who do not believe in keeping secrets. They believe in openness of the highest degree. Hence, they disclose everything that's known to them, even the things that they should be ashamed of, freely and frankly. Such people are not hypocrites. But they are certainly weirdos. They crave for the attention of the public and the media and that's why they unveil obnoxious and even embarrassing facts about themselves. But by baring their own secrets, they sometimes cause mortification to others. Actors, publicity-seekers, and famous personalities who are no longer famous fall into this category of people.
What's Your Secret? Tell Us, We Are the Secret-Mongers...
There is a group of people in the human race that firmly believes that other people's secrets should be blurted out, discussed and laughed at, at parties and at other places. Such people love making other people's secrets public and indulge in gossiping though they'd like to be very secretive about their own lives. They make it their business to solve other people's mysteries though they'd like to keep mum and be mysterious about their own failings. The more cryptic you are, the more they'll pounce on you. They are sneaky by nature and might even go to the extent of listening through doors. Unfortunately, the majority of us belong to this section of people.
There are yet others who can be far more horrifying. Gathering secrets is their chief occupation, the aim and ambition of their lives. They tap phone conversations and hack emails and websites and then blackmail people when armed with secrets. Earning money through blackmail and extortion is their livelihood.
No Secrets, Please
There are some secrets that have to be made public by law. If crimes have been committed or unlawful acts have been executed, it is the duty of the law-enforcement agencies to ferret out secrets, to open dark closets and expose the skeletons therein. It is also the duty of journalists, especially investigative journalists, to discover and expose secrets. The penal code of any democratic nation mandates that illegal acts committed by people be brought to light so that the culprits can be caught and punished. Because if illegal acts remain secrets, the wrong-doers will just go scot-free. Journalists have a vital role to play in digging out secrets. Reporters have to go on different beats so that they can report news of all kinds. News reported by journalists also keeps the public informed in many ways. The modern world runs on the news generated in newspapers, on television and on the Internet. People know exactly what to expect and the latest happenings by reading and watching the news. News helps people to lead their lives better and to take informed and crucial decisions.
Do Secret Hunters Serve Society or Do They Break the Law?
Journalism has its limitations. Some categories of extreme investigative journalism are considered to be violative of individual privacy and are prohibited by law. Many a time, journalists have a tendency to overstep the limits to probing and become nosy-parkers with prying eyes and ears, eager for secrets. They are known to hound celebrities just for muck-raking. 'Paparazzi' is a term given to journalists who are bloodhounds, who put unbearable pressure on celebrities just to get a glimpse of their private lives, which they have no right to do. Some investigative journalists pose as laymen, doctors, engineers, executives, teachers, lawyers, policemen and as other people just to get an inroad into various places and the private lives of people, and videotape events, and tape conversations in order to expose criminals and criminal activities. The doings of such investigative journalists have come under the scanner. Many feel that investigative journalists should pursue celebrities and uncover the lives of important people holding important offices and lay bare the secrets of anyone they come upon. They think that this is helpful for society in general. But human rights activists and others feel that such a license granted to journalists only urges them to misuse and abuse their powers and encroach on the privacy of human beings and therefore violate fundamental human rights. What is worse is that investigative journalists and journalists in general sometimes fabricate secrets and portray them as 'scoops' and 'front-page news' just to get a name for themselves and increase the sales volume of the newspaper or magazine or the viewership of the news channel they're working for. Such actions are criminal and should be punished heavily by law. But the glitch is that many times such actions go unpunished. If the law-enforcement agencies can't find any conclusive evidence against the journalists or if the journalists have been so cunning in spreading rumors that myths begin to don the appearance of truth, it is hard to punish them. It takes ages to build cases against such journalists, especially if they are widely known in media circles and have connived with high-profile politicians. Investigative journalism, hence, is still a gray area in most countries with no fixed laws to either support it or oppose it.
I'm the Agony Aunt. I'm the Agony Uncle. Tell me Your Secret. But Mind, I'll Charge You for It
As it is so difficult to keep a secret secure, most people have begun to confide in rank outsiders. These outsiders are professionals trained in counseling and mentoring. They charge exorbitant fees for listening to people's secrets and for providing psychological support. In some cases, these guidance gurus can really work miracles and inspire and motivate their clients. But in most cases, their words are empty and insincere and are completely ineffectual. They just drain money out of their clients without causing any perceptible and positive change in the minds of their clients.
Online Diary Planner: The Authentic Secret Keeper
But don't be disheartened. Besides your Mom, there's someone else whom you can trust with your secrets, just one other entity in the whole world. It is an excellent secretary, a great confidant. It is called the online diary planner. It has a colossal data-storage capacity and can store all your secrets safely. A reliable online diary planner is the safest web-based application on earth and a great secret keeper. None other than you can access your secrets in the online diary planner. It is a totally tamper-proof and fail-safe application that cannot be hacked into or accessed by a single unauthorized user. You have to create an account in your online diary planner so that you can log into it with your Username and Password. Remember, a trustworthy online diary planner keeps your Password safe and sound with itself so that it is completely inaccessible to everyone but you. Even the employees of the organization that has created this superb webapp don't have access to your Password, your data and your secrets. So, there's no question of your secrets leaking out from a reliable online diary planner, unless you make the mistake of letting slip your Password. An authentic online diary planner doesn't charge you anything for keeping your secrets. Being a genuine confidant, it keeps secrets without asking for any favors. Apart from keeping your secrets, a reliable online diary planner also teaches you to restructure your thoughts, realign your actions, work powerfully, think creatively and positively so that you can spearhead the meeting and business management processes. It is a fantastic counselor and mentor that enables you to acquire superhuman capabilities and talents. Trust the reliable online diary planner to keep all your secrets confidential. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_diary_planner to see which online diary planners are reliable and authentic as Wikipedia is a trusted source that always gives correct and unbiased information.
Damien Ghosh is a prolific writer of articles that focus on technology, places, psychology and people. Damien has worked in different industries such as the information technology industry, the travel and tourism industry and the retail industry. He has worked in several projects for blue-chip companies, that are part of the IT, travel and tourism and retail industries. His work and his passion for traveling has made him journey across the world. He has led large work-teams to accomplish business goals successfully. He is also an expert on psychology and has many degrees and diplomas in clinical and business psychology. He has successfully coached, counseled and mentored several people in the various organizations he has worked as a professional HR manager and psychologist. He has also counseled many people by holding counseling sessions in different parts of the world. His counseling sessions have been very helpful for motivating people and for enabling them to identify and set their goals. His rich experience undoubtedly helps him to write extensively. Damien writes for magazines, the web and for newspapers. He has also done several research papers on motivation, goal-setting, and human psychology and has contributed chapters to textbooks that deal with human resource management, human resource development, business and industrial psychology and clinical psychology. His articles, chapters and papers have received lots of accolades from critics, professionals, psychologists, HR managers, industrialists, help-seekers and readers in general. Damien Ghosh's website is https://www.meetingdiary.com and his email is damienghosh@live.com.
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