I watched as he sniffed and contorted the muscles of his face.
“Fighting off a cold,” he told me as he rubbed his eyes.
“Probably allergies, too,” he explained.
Anything to cover up the tears that so badly wanted to fall...
Talk about maligned emotions! Sadness is way up there on the not okay list – especially for men.
How many times have we all heard:
“Don’t be sad.” “It’s okay, don’t cry!”
Did you ever stop to think about why we love sad movies so much? There’s a reason we call them “tearjerker’s”!
Theater gives us permission to cry without being labeled a wimp.
How do you think this strange belief came about?
After all, if humans weren’t meant to cry… what are all those tears about?
Tomorrow: the chemistry of tears
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Several times through out my life (my quick 18 years) I've seen a woman walking down a street running errands while crying (I've even been that woman!) And apart from my initial reaction of, "oh no, I wonder what's the matter." I get the undeniable sensation that that woman knows what's up. Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to assume that she wasn't just robbed behind the last corner, but to me any open expression of vulnerability shows strength. Crying is not a confirmation of weakness! Like the artist Beck says in one of his songs, "I'm a full grown man but I'm not afraid to cry."
ReplyDeleteYour way of seeing this is wonderful - especially for someone who has only been around 18 years! Thanks for sharing -
DeleteIt's like perspiration of the mind. You sweat when you face a feat physically, and you cry when you face a feat psychologically. Or at least it could be thought of in that way.
ReplyDeleteReally poetic! An interesting way of seeing tears!
Delete-s.p.
As a person with lots of crying experience (LOL) I find it interesting that I cry with equal intensity, at things that both hurt me, cutting me to the bone, and also things that I find beautiful or inspiring, like love, generosity, and courage. (The movie IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE gets me every time!) Why are the tears triggered by such different things? Or maybe the triggers aren't so different after all. Maybe my tears at the things that hurt my heart are just a way of my mind and body telling me that a hidden hero inside of me, someone that can love and be generous and brave, in spite of the hurt, is just waiting to come out? I hope so. I'm going to work on step number 3 from your last post to see if I can do that.
ReplyDeleteJT