A picture of the World Trade Center, a plane aiming at the towers. The image itself was sickening; I understood the impending destruction. But a sad sentiment scrawled across the image makes this a more horrendous sight: "I wish you'd gone to work that day." At first, the meaning of the sentence seems too horrible, too overwhelming. But, there it is, a secret of the human heart anonymously posted on the Internet for all the world to consume.

That was my first experience with postsecret.com, and checking the site has since become a weekly ritual. The secrets range from frightening to sweet, vengeful to depressed, hateful to loving, pornographic to joyful. They are topical, touching, and thought provoking.

Every Sunday Frank Warren updates his blog, choosing from the hundreds of postcards that arrive at 13345 Copper Ridge Road in Germantown, Maryland. On some Sundays there seems to be a theme running throughout - the American consciousness exposed. On others, it's a collage of declarations.

Several Sundays ago many of the cards contemplated the Virginia Tech massacre. One card read: "I'm 21 years old and have never prayed a day in my life. Today I prayed for the victims at Virginia Tech and their families." Another card pictures a grave and reads: "I hate the fact that the only time that we all get close is when somebody dies."

Cards are creatively decorated, the image symbolically representing the secret the card reveals. One features a close-up of the sole of a foot, bloody cuts slashed into the skin. Above this is written, "No one has to know." Across the sole of a roller skate sneaker: "I hate seeing kids fly by on these damn shoes. Just once I want to see somebody completely wipe out...JUST ONCE!!!"

Warren also posts viewer responses to moving secrets. One viewer writes: "Every single person has at least one secret that would break your heart. If we could just remember this, I think there would be a lot more compassion and tolerance in the world."