You are a normal teenager, You have a friend. You're not best
friends, but not an acquaintance like friend, in between really- good friends.
You're good friends. You're talking to said friend, maybe on the phone, Maybe
texting, maybe through social media 'dms'. Either way, you're talking. You've
been talking for a while and then they say something in particular. 'can I tell
you something?' You stare, it takes a second. Oh- its a secret. You say sure.
They tell you ' but dont tell anyone I did that '. It would cause an uproar at
school, your’re a bit shocked they did that. So you agreed. Of course you won’t.
Except for your best friend, but you know. They don't count. You both tell
each other everything. So its fine.
Right?
Whisper a dangerous secret to someone you care about. Now they
have the power to destroy you, but they won't. This is what love is.
Okay, you'll admit you care for your
friend. You acknowledge the secret is dangerous in some form. You're not trying to destroy them- how extreme is that? Ridiculous.
You know your best friend won't tell anyone. Besides, you already told
them.
Lets make a chart. We'll give everyone
names, your name will be Jamie. That's fine right? Of course it is. Your good
friend is Jean, and your best friend is Nicky. Nicky has another friend who is
around that good friend-best friend level who is generally addressed as Lar
(you thought that was a weird nickname). Lar is very confrontational, and likes
to know everything about everyone. They're nosy. Very. Very nosy. So here is
your chart-
The line is the secret, the secret Jean
told YOU, and where it traveled. That is right, it ended right where it
started.
Your communication with Jean has decreased
significantly over the past couple weeks, You miss Jean. You both had a
good thing going. You thought they liked being your friend.
...
Your name is Jean. A couple weeks ago, you
told your good friend acquaintance
Jamie a secret. Practically everyone has been asking you about it since Lar
started asking. You messed up, you know that. It was a one time thing. You
wanted to complain a little since your parents were bagging on you for being '
a horrible child ' and claiming you did it because ' you hate them '. You don’t
hate them. You can’t for sure say the same for them, not after you did that.
You didn't have a lot of friends to begin with, now everyone who isn't asking '
did you actually- ' avoids you giving you dirty looks. Your family thinks good
for nothing and now nothing is going right. You were already having a tough
time dealing with your family, but high school is brutal now too. It didn’t
have to be, if you just didn’t tell Jamie… You thought you both were really
good friends, you thought Jamie liked you. Guess not.
This is what I generally think about
whenever people in general gossip. Of course it wouldn't go from Lar straight
to Jean, and there would be plenty more people who were told along the way.
It's pretty simplified though I feel the point is still there- everyone has
that one best friend who 'doesn't count' and eventually everyone knows. You may
think someone is stupid for doing whatever they did, but you don't know why
they did it or what they may be now going through. The point is, if someone tells
you to not tell anyone- dont
tell anyone.
