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[thatsaflaregun]

"A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart

Comments

[bob_fraser_snr]

Personally, I'd prefer 'needing a purpose' as a commonality, seems less devisive than secrets, in my opinion.

[thatsaflaregun]

I don't know about that, brotha. You could argue that many people don't need a purpose. And it's only divisive if you look at it that way. You could argue that the fact that there's always something someone's keeping from you shows a lack of trust, and you'd be right, yeah? But accepting that there will always be something you don't know about a person just makes the moment when they let you know their secrets that much sweeter. It might hurt, it might... Cause some tension, but if you really care... You'll ride it through. It's a test of human courage to whether those kinds of storms. I should know. I've failed to weather those storms many times in my life.

[bob_fraser_snr]

Everyone needs a purpose. Look at those inmates here who feel they have none. Leads to depression. It doesn't matter who small or insignificant that purpose may seem, to observers or even themselves, everyone needs to feel the security of having a purpose, to feel needed.

And while secrets can bind, it's only when they are shared, that they can do so.

[thatsaflaregun]

I suppose you have a point then.

The point being, brotha, that to actually share one's secrets, you have to accept that all people have them. And beyond that, you have to accept that it takes a great deal of trust to have them shared.

[Private]

[whateverthemess]

And if you know someone who Sometimes even if

Who is that?

[Private]

[thatsaflaregun]

Charles Dickens. He was... Quite the wordsmith, yeah?

[Private]

[whateverthemess]

Yeah. What made you... You know.

[Private]

[thatsaflaregun]

Bring it up? It seemed appropriate at the time, yeah? All this talk of people not opening up.... But, really, I had someone reveal some... I suppose, shocking news about something in my past. It got me thinking.

[wandthief]

Personal secrets are well and good but when an entire society is forced to keep itself secret then I do object to it.

The people here appear to be extra secretive about themselves which I do think defeats the purpose of this place. Myself, I have no secrets.

[thatsaflaregun]

Defeats the purpose or makes things a great deal easier on Wardens who are capable of having relationships with their Inmates where they trust well enough to reveal their secrets? It's all a matter of perspective, really.

You sure about that, brotha? Certainly there are some things you don't want people to know about you. I've been told I'm a very... Open person and even I have secrets.

[wandthief]

Secrets that have no relevance, perhaps. Certainly not ones that would have any real shock or impact.

[thatsaflaregun]

But you keep them, yeah? Whether they're important or not, they're still yours.

[sonotahunter]

You forgot the rest of the quote.

[thatsaflaregun]

Aye. So I did.

[sonotahunter]

"Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is preferable to this. No more can I turn the leaves of this dear book that I loved, and vainly hope in time to read it all. No more can I look into the depths of this unfathomable water, wherein, as momentary lights glanced into it, I have had glimpses of buried treasure and other things submerged. It was appointed that the book should shut with a spring, for ever and for ever, when I had read but a page. It was appointed that the water should be locked in an eternal frost, when the light was playing on its surface, and I stood in ignorance on the shore. My friend is dead, my neighbour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead; it is the inexorable consolidation and perpetuation of the secret that was always in that individuality, and which I shall carry in mine to my life's end. In any of the burial-places of this city through which I pass, is there a sleeper more inscrutable than its busy inhabitants are, in their innermost personality, to me, or than I am to them?"Rather

[thatsaflaregun]

And the romance, as well, yeah?

You're familiar with Charles Dickens, are you then, sistah?

[no_nanomites]

Dickens always has it right, even when he has it wrong.

[thatsaflaregun]

Aye. That he does. You a fan as well?

[no_nanomites]

Yes. I was going to be an English Lit professor for a little while. Dickens is my favorite author.

[thatsaflaregun]

Mine as well. If you don't mind me asking, sistah, what stopped you?