can you keep a secret?

i'll be the first to admit that i religiously check the PostSecret updates each and every sunday morning. but admitting to the possibility that my problems closely parallel those of the people who write in...now, that's a harsher reality to face.

life is full of pain and heartache..and then some. and maybe this is a stupid question, but why do so many of us PostSecret subscribers yearn for that weekly update? and when we get that week-long-awaited unveiling, how come we automatically feel that sense of relief and reassurance almost, as if the confessions of others' secrets are secretly our own?

is it that we feel better knowing that there exist other people as miserable as ourselves? do we actually feel comforted knowing that we aren't alone in our failed attempts to row our sinking boats ashore? why is it that realizing others are in similar, if not identical, situations to our own, inevitably makes us feel better?

maybe -despite the importance assigned (by society) to being entirely independent and 100% functional, not needing anyone for anything but only needing yourself -we, as human beings, are essentially inept. and maybe we feel good about ourselves relative to the miseries and misfortunes of others, instead of from our own, personal successes because its simply our nature, as human beings, to do so.