The power of secrets can confuse people and cause them a lot of grief throughout their lives by trying to hide them from others. It can be a secret they didn’t want to have the burden of carrying around locked up inside without telling a person in the first place; and it finally becomes a weight around their necks and they want to rid themselves of “the secret” but they cannot.
Secrets can pull people apart and divide them; they can ruin relationships within a family and among friends; they can make the holder of the secret feel guilty; they can be used to blackmail others; can lead to betrayals and end relationships; destroy a family connection or end a marriage, etc., etc. Secrets can be hazardous to a person’s mental state and if you do not want a secret dangling around your neck tell the person you would rather not know it.
Secrets can have an effect on our overall society when they involve important and prominent people or governments. It can ruin a country’s integrity; it can divide races and countries; destroy an oath signed and sealed; destroy honesty and loyalty; cause conflicts between governments; tear down foundations once solid and strong and it could lead to major disasters for a country or totally destroy trusts.
In our society today many people who are holding important secrets and a signed oath to preserve them are struggling with reversing their secrets and exposing them to the world because they feel the secret is morally wrong or unjust.
It’s my opinion the holder of any secret should give considerable thought and consideration before taking an oath to keep a secret. A person should know the repercussions of taking an oath to keep a secret and then betraying by telling it; if they cannot keep the secret they should back away and refuse to sign an oath of secrecy. A person, who takes an oath of secrecy and then betrays it, should suffer the consequences they will face and without any clemency.
Not all secrets that must be revealed are destructive because many of them are family oriented and it is a required necessity for the purpose of health issues. When there is a mental disorder, addictions, serious medical conditions, a family member’s mysterious death, a child born out of wedlock, problems with the family’s genes, it should not be kept a secret from family members or siblings; or if there’s an issue of life or death.
In my opinion this is the only time a secret should be revealed but the teller of the secret must be first told about the decision to reveal the information because it is required because of health issues.
It’s my opinion that any secret unless as stated above should be kept a secret when it is told to a friend or a family member and it is not going to have any harmful effects on anyone.
In The Holy Bible, KJV, and in Proverbs 21:23 tells us, “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble,” and in Proverbs 18: 6, 7, 8 “A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for strokes;” “a fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul;” “the wounds of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.”
Secret keepers prevent havoc to other parties concerned and they should keep their secrets as such.
Barbara Kasey Smith is the writer of this article – quotations taken from The Holy Bible, KJV, Proverbs 18: 6, 7, 8; Proverbs 21: 23.