Who Needs to Know?

Does the whole world
need to know my thoughts?
MY remembered?
MY forgots? 

Does everyone have to hear my words?
Would I explode
If I'm not heard? 

Does everyone even know I'm here?
And if they don't,
Will I dissappear? 

Whoever knows what I think and do,
Does their knowing make it true?
And does it change the value? 

To all of these, I answer no.
A thing I'm learning as I grow.
I just thought you should know.

-B.C. Byron

Who needs to know our deep ponderings and secrets? Not everybody, that’s for sure. The internet is filled to the tippy-top with people’s thoughts, poured into the giant digital bucket day-after-day. Some of those thoughts should be shared. Many are better kept inside the sharer’s head – I’m sure you’ve read more than a few of these types of thoughts in the comments section of Youtube videos. The truth is, we’re much better off sharing most thoughts with people who care about us in real life, the folks who feel an obligation for our well-being and aren’t likely to drop a rude meme then sprint away. But it often seems so easy to share with anonymous strangers and so difficult to share with family and friends. Why is that? Why is it that the closer and more caring a person is to us, the less we want to share deep feelings with them? It’s something that can happen over time if we’re not careful. I don’t know why our human brains work that way, but it’s time to overcome it and tell the right people what we are feeling. Our parents and, for many adults, our spouse should be getting our thoughts before the internet of total strangers.

I realize there’s some irony here as I sit sharing my own thoughts to the entire world on my poetry blog. Nobody asked for me to blab on about how we all need to stop spilling our guts to everyone. I guess I should learn a lesson or two from my own words. So often my poems are actually just a reminder for myself. I’ll be reading this blog post to my wife before posting and get her thoughts on it. I don’t mean to be rude, but her opinion matters more to me than yours, dear readers.