If you were sworn to secrecy but that secret could save the world, would you tell anyone?

I’m afraid I’m not one of those people… I’d end up telling. But I’d be sure to tell it anonymously. ;)

Always keep secrets, save one exception.
When its to save a life.

If I possessed anything that could save the world I would have to share it.

I would have to second guess why the person who gave me something so monumental and important would not want me to share it.

I would have to conclude by my own virtue that the survival of mankind is greater than any oath I took from the person who gave me the secret.

Of course I would tell.

There are a hierarchies of rights and wrongs. It does seem obvious that one would break a sworn silence to save the world.

Well, Duh! If the world ends you end so what good is keeping the secret?

If the secret is the secret code that stops a nuclear bomb explosion, then yes, I’d tell the secret. But there have been extreme scenarios where I didn’t.

example #1 I once got into trouble with a group of people. I knew that one of them had done something wrong, but the person who told me made me swear not to say anything. She made me look really bad and everybody hated me. I accused her of what she had done, but would not reveal my source, so nobody believed me. I quit but never told them who my source was.

example #2 As some of you know, I am in an eternal legal battle with my ex. Her former lawyer told me something, but again made me swear never to tell anyone. Even though this information could have saved me a lot of trouble (and using it in court would have probably solved all my problems), I did not do so. However, the information did eventually leak out, and I officially informed the Ministry of Justice in my recent letter to them last Friday. But this is only 3 years later and after my daughter spent 6 months being molested by her as a result (partly) of me keeping my promise.

@noelasun I agree with you. Keep a secret unless to save a life.

My mother in law.

@Jack79 Why would you keep a secret knowing that it could help prevent your daughter from being molested? I’m going to hope you did not know about that until after you finally told.

The answer to “why” is “honour”. I realised recently that there’s only one thing that I value even more than my daughter’s life, and that’s her soul. And mine too. But you have to find yourself in the extreme situation of having to chose between someone’s life and someone’s soul in order to understand what that choice means.

Bakc to my example: It’s not a direct cause-effect thing, I just don’t have the space to explain here, and I don’t think people are interested anyway. Trying to keep it short, the promise was to not tell anyone (including the court) what the lawyer had told me. The result of not telling was not what happened to my daughter. What happened to my daughter would have happened anyway, but this extra evidence in court could have swayed the balance and got things to move faster, that’s all.

As long as there are secrets, there will also, always be lies.

I would tell if the price was right.