What can happen if a secret is kept too long?

I figure that for the majority of society, people have trouble keeping secrets. No man is an island nor is he meant to be. Secrets, for me, are like burdens that keep on piling up after time. I figure no one can keep a secret unless he or she forgets it which does not count at all! Everyone talks and everyone has friends if not good or best friends. The tendency for a secret to come out, then, is very high.

Two things that tend to happen when a secret is kept too long. Firstly, to the individual who has this secret, he or she may feel overburdened with keeping that secret to himself or herself. So that individual will then confide in someone else. Sometimes talking to someone may alleviate the pain or joy of that secret. If the secret is not meant to be kept secret then that will be fine but there are two other outcomes if the secret cannot be let out into the open and if the person with the secret makes the other individual swear not to tell anyone.

If you tell someone and then bind him or her to secrecy, and that secret is kept too long, the first thing that could occur is that he or she forgets that secret. Then, the secret may be taken to the grave. However, flashbacks of what has happened in the past caused by a trigger of maybe the friend who told them the secret, may cause the individual to remember that secret.

Provided that the secret is remembered, if the secret is kept too long, it may be hard for the individual to constantly keep the secret. We are human after all and when a certain topic is brought up individuals like to bring up new matter to the table to show either their popularity with others or that they can fit in with the group well or even to make them look or sound good or be viewed that way by other members of the group. Then, it is very hard to keep a straight face and zip mouths as the compulsion to blurt out the secret may be strong.

Then, people may just blurt it out. Since it has been kept secret for a while, if the individual wants to tell his friend's secret, it will be easy to rational the reason for blurting the secret out. 'It's been such a long time I'm sure he won't mind,' or 'It's not relevant now,' are common examples of how people can rationale that action. You will though, feel your conscience telling you not to and guilt-tripping you over that secret.

Have you ever observed greedy behavior in others? Explain the situation.

I have observed greedy behavior in others. A particular public incident in which I observed gluttony was when a crowd of people were invited to the Chief Minister's public residence last year for an open house in conjunction with Hari Raya which concluded the fasting month for the Muslims. Despite being given a humongous free buffet and graciously accepting, a vast number of people actually brought plastic containers with them as well. The plastic containers were brought to take away some of the delicious food prepared. The shocking attitude of those who even brought back some of the food was appalling. This incident made national news the next day and sparked a cry of astonishment among citizens of Malaysia. How could one be so ungrateful of what one was given and take more. 

Photographers managed to capture expressions of greed on the faces of gluttons as they spooned out extra food into their containers to bring home. This shocking incident is a reminder to all people that we should be very grateful for what we have received and not be greedy to want more as not only is it a poor way of showing gratitude to the individuals who have given you so much but also as you never know when your actions may be seen by others or even recorded by others as these were.

Some may have not meant any harm by it and not meant to be greedy but this serves as a reminder to think before we act and to be aware not to put ourselves in positions that can serve to humiliate or strip away our dignity and portray a crude image which does not do justice to our characters.

Why do people hear 'voices' in the woods?

Very often people are fearful of what lies in the woods as no one really know all its secrets or what lies in the murky darkness. As such, people's senses are on high alert and they listen carefully and look very keenly. Sometimes people imagine hearing sounds that are not there just because they expect something. People who expect to hear something will more often than not hear something and those who don't, very often see or hear nothing. People's minds easily play tricks on them, making them see invisible people and hear 'voices' out of thin air.

Another possible reason would be because the people could be bipolar or have some kind of psychotic disorder and should be medicated. Cases of not only hearing voices in the woods but also hearing 'voices' and having to 'obey' the 'voices' in normal surroundings have been documented. These such people could be dangerous to themselves and to others as they sometimes do not focus on reality or on common sense but on what the voices are telling them without regard for human life.

In the woods, hearing voices are most likely the effect of fear of what lies amidst the trees and what animals there are lying in wait for their prey. Those voices could simply be the scampering of small animals rushing to their homes, running away from humans or even the calm or strong breeze whistling through the trees.

Being careful is key. Thus, if you or anyone around you in the woods claims to be hearing voices, ask people around you or tell them whether their observation of hearing voices is accurate or not. If you alone are hearing those voices in the woods, it could be nature playing tricks on you and you should not worry about it but if they are telling you to kill yourself or others, then I sincerely advise you to visit a psychiatrist.

Why do we fear what we do not know?

Humans fear the unknown simply because they do not know what that person, animal or object is. People do not fear the dark but of what resides in the dark. Whether people are conscious of the fact of unconscious of it, knowledge is power and when someone thoroughly knows someone or something, the fear of that individual or thing subsides. Understanding a human grants someone the knowledge whether to know that he or she is kind or mean.

The only reason people fear killers is because they fear either death or as they do not know what the killer is going to do. It is for that reason that humans are delving so deep into the realms of science; trying to discover the unknown.

If the reason for cancer were discovered, less people would be so fearful of it for now they know it is either preventable or that it is not and come to terms with the reality that most times it is fatal and seldom cured. People fear death because they know not what lies after death; whether it is a beautiful, luscious heaven, reincarnation or terrifying hell.

Knowing something is half the battle won. When humans know what is going to happen on a roller coaster, more people would be willing to try it or conquer their fear of heights. Hardly anyone would be able to accept a challenge not knowing what that challenge is and would thus fear going into it.

Knowing something takes away anticipation, fear and gives us common sense on how to cope with that particular thing. Without knowledge of the particular thing we are undertaking, we flounder before it, trying to guess what is going to happen and worrying that we may not be able to succeed as
we all want to do well and prosper or at least survive everything thrown our way.

Thomas Jefferson writes about ideals he is willing to fight for to protect. What values would you defend most fiercely?

Values I would fight to defend would be freedom from any type of persecution particularly freedom of religion and speech. Say if another country would conquer mine, I would rebel against such an action but especially if it were to suddenly impose strict regulations on freedom of speech or demonstrations or even religion. If being conquered by any particular country or being under the current government would yield similar results as now, with more freedom for speech and religion, it would be acceptable to me and I probably would not fight as hard for my country's freedom than freedom of religion and speech. Freedom is a very gray line however and it is hard to draw a yardstick on where prosecution of these rights occur. For example, it would be legal to throw a shoe at Obama in the United States or to slander him publicly. In Malaysia, these actions would be considered uncivil and should not be condoned. Some countries such as Azerbaijan and China are also considered countries where there is active persecution of Christians and volunteers cross their borders to help the persecuted. Why I really believe in these two values is simply because not only are these values integral to an individual's self actualization but also to allow discourse among people of different or the same country which is important to allow the country to develop and grow.

How do you determine if a particular speech is effective?

I determine if a particular speech is effective by listening to whether it is an informative speech. Based on what type of audience the speaker is addressing, I see whether the content and information in the speech is relevant. For example, if the speaker's topic is the solar system, I would deem his or her speech effective if he or she were to talk about the Milky Way and planets and whether or not the informative style is suitable for the people he or she is addressing. To me, his or her informative speech would be effective if it is simple to understand when addressing middle school students and slightly more advanced if addressing high school students.

Next, I would say a speaker's address is effective if it is entertaining. A speech in which half the audience is dozing off or gazing into the distance and not paying attention would not be an effective speech in my opinion. Even though, to me, a speaker has to have relevant chunks of information for the audience in his or her speech, a boring informative speech would not be effective because at the end of the day, hardly anyone would listen to the information being presented. Particularly for me, I think an entertaining speech with less information is more effective than a boring speech with a thesis from the University of Harvard.

I would also determine whether a particular speech is effective by rating how persuasive a speaker is. To me, if a person cannot persuade the audience that what he or she is presenting about is important, then he or she would not need to speak at all as no change would occur. To me, determining whether a speech is effective encompasses this particular detail because to me, speeches are all about change. The speaker wants the audience to be more vigilant to prevent snatch theft or to do their part to prevent global warming for example, and so that would be the purpose of the speech. To achieve that purpose, I believe that one has to be persuasive to get that message across. Therefore, I determine an effective speech by three main things that are whether the speech is informative, entertaining and persuasive for me.