Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

The wise store up knowledge,
    but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.

• Proverbs 10:14

Sin is not ended by multiplying words,
    but the prudent hold their tongues.

• Proverbs 10:19

A gossip betrays a confidence,
    but a trustworthy person keeps a secret.

• Proverbs 11:13

“Be honest now, can you keep a secret?
“When privileged information passes through one of the gates of your senses, does it remain within the walls of your mind, or is it only a matter of time before a leak occurs? Do you refuse to help the grapevine climb higher, or do you fertilize it with your wagging, unguarded tongue? When someone says, ‘Now this is confidential,’ do you respect their trust or ignore it, either instantly or ultimately?
“The longer I live, the more I realize the scarcity of people who can be fully trusted with confidential information. And the longer I live, the more I value those rare souls who fall into that category! As a matter of fact, if I were asked to list the essential characteristics that mark a person of integrity and trust, the ability to maintain confidences would rank very near the top.”

• Charles R. Swindoll, The Finishing Touch (Devotion for week 41, Wednesday)

I have talked about a few lapses in confidence in the past.

At one point in the military, I was given the position of executive officer of the company.  While the company commander hid in a maintenance closet all day, I ran the company.  One of the usual titles for an executive officer of a Combat Heavy Battalion was Construction Officer.  I fed the various projects all over Europe with the tools, vehicles, and additional people needed to complete the construction projects on time.  The platoon leaders were responsible for their projects, and I made sure that from my end, they were never in need.

But on one occasion, I told one of the platoon leaders that the operations sergeant would have to get him what he needed.  He was not happy.  He asked why?  I said that I would not be in the office for a couple of days.  He pressed me.  I reminded him that the line was not secure.  We knew the Cold War enemy was listening.  About that moment, the commander, who never was in the office at that time of day, got on an extension of that line to tell the platoon leader, who had no business knowing, exactly what I was going to do and because I had a NATO Cosmic security clearance, I was the only one that could do it.  The commander told intricate details of my mission over a telephone line that we knew was not secure.  His only lie was that I had a sergeant and driver going with me and they also had that level of clearance.  I was not the only one in the company.  I yelled about the line not being secure, while the commander told all the secrets, and he yelled at me when the phone call was completed for being disrespectful.  Really?  And then he gave me a bad efficiency rating.  And we knew people listened to all phone calls from that part of Europe.

The reason for that secret information is moot with the movement of military units, the end of the Cold War, etc., but I have not been relieved of my oath of keeping the secret, although blabbed by others.

But few people have that experience.  I know someone from the Air Force who had thousands of secret stories to tell, but ten years after he got out, he denied having ever been in any branch of the military, a nice way to say that he was not going to tell any stories, no matter how innocent or even unclassified.

And maybe that is the best way to handle keeping a secret of any kind.  We weren’t there.  We had our eyes closed where we were, but as you know we weren’t there there.  You have me mixed up with someone else.  If you take that tactic, have a few more ways to say you saw nothing, heard nothing, etc. without sounding like Sgt. Schultz from the old television show, Hogan’s Heroes, but enough to frustrate them into changing the subject.

People complain that the television show promoted stereotypes and made fun of incompetent Nazi soldiers, but, ummm, it was comedy.  I think we have forgotten how to laugh.  And knowing what shenanigans were about to happen, it was best for Sgt. Schultz to have stayed in bed that morning.

But what about items on a prayer list.  Those must be kept confidential.  A church, somewhere, many years ago, had a confidential secretary who could keep a secret, according to all who knew her, and were afraid of her.  My wife was not afraid, and she told the prayer team that the secretary did not have to divulge any information.  The biggest church gossips went into the secretary’s office and read the items on the prayer list while she was typing it – allegedly.  I must write allegedly in that I trust my wife, but I only saw the egregious miscarriage of confidentiality only once, and my wife said she did that almost every month, and I am not a witness to that.

And thinking of church gossip, what is the difference between betraying a confidence and gossiping?  Usually the difference is that betraying a confidence is usually telling a true story, where gossip might start off with one tidbit that is true and then the rest is fictional or at least exaggerated.

The proverbs tell the story.  It is best to keep one’s mouth closed.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.