SECRETS

I have secrets. I know you do too. Some of my secrets are so titillating that sometimes I long to tell just one or two of my closest friends what they are. Maybe you feel the same way sometimes. Of course these close friends would have to promise that not a word would go outside of the room.  As much as I would like to share these juicy tidbits with a couple of close friends, I do not. I am old enough to have learned that the only secrets that are always kept are the ones that are never told.

Everyone is not as closed mouthed as I. Some people share their secrets, not with just a couple of their very best friends, but with everyone on their Facebook friend list. A lot of Facebook “friends” are not really friends at all. They’re not even necessarily people that you actually know. They are just people who have signed up to follow your witty comments on Facebook. Along with Facebook friends, your comments can be read by your boss, your enemies, your in-laws, and the Police, among others.

Facebook users must know this, but evidently, they think they’re telling their secrets to just a handful of really close friends. They don’t even recognize that a secret told to just one person is no longer a secret. Facebook is not the only internet site that will blab on you. Other social media such as Twitter is no better, And if you really want to share a share with just one close friend whom you trust, don’t use email to send the message.

Former Congressman Anthony Wiener had a bad habit. Although he was married, he liked to send revealing pictures of himself to young women. He was going to send such a picture as a text attachment on his cell phone, but he made a mistake, and sent it to his Twitter account instead. That is why he is a former congressman. For a short while he toyed with the idea of running for mayor of New York City, but he soon dropped out. People had already seen too much of him, so to speak.

A long-time high school football coach in Maine by mistake posted a nude picture of himself on Facebook. He is no longer coaching. People really should be more careful!

A teacher’s aide in Michigan posted a picture on Facebook of a co-worker with her pants around her ankles. The caption read “Thinking of You.” Hey, it was just a joke. The school officials didn’t have a sense of humor evidently. She lost her job.

People who create blogs and websites are not above doing some really stupid things. A Stockton, California, teacher was maintaining a website called MySluttyTeacher. She was using her school issued laptop for the enterprise. She is no longer teaching in Stockton.

A TSA baggage screener habitually posted anti-Muslim, anti-gay, and racist comments on his Facebook page. TSA considered his posts an embarrassment to the agency and fired him.

18-year old Isaiah Cutler with two teenagers burglarized a market and then posted pictures of himself with some of the loot on Facebook. The Police found the post very interesting and paid a visit to Cutler to discuss the event further.

Alan O’Neill left his wife in 2009. A few years later he decided to remarry. The problem was he never got divorced from his first wife. You can understand that, can’t you? Divorces are so messy. Mrs. O’Neill #1 ran across Mrs. O’Neill #2 on Facebook under “People You Might Know.” She went to Mrs. O’Neill #2’s page and saw a picture of her with her husband and a wedding cake. Mr. O’Neill faces up to a year in jail.

So if you want to know some of my secrets, you’re not going to hear them from me. At least I hope not. I’ve posted a lot of stuff on the internet over the years, including some things that I really don’t want you to know. I hope I’ve covered my tracks enough that you won’t be able to trace them.