I came upon this channel almost by accident. I am a Psychology Major in college right now, and so the Psychology channel is one I should have checked out long before now, but I just never have. Today I did, and I saw this title. I’ve thought long and hard about this, and I think that the only thing that makes people cry is knowing that something great is gone from their lives. That something great might be gone for a moment, or for a lifetime, but it’s gone, and it hurts.
Let me explain. When you go to a movie, and you see a young person losing their parent, you might cry. Maybe that parent reminds you of what your parent never was, or what they were but now are no longer because they’ve passed away, or because you are trying to be that kind of parent, and it’s not working. No matter the reason, you cry because that loving moment is gone from your life, and that hurts.
Personally, I am touched by this right now. The love of my life, my future husband, is on his way to Southern California right now. If you have been watching the news, you know that there are serious fires in that area right now. My fiance, the firefighter, is on his way there. When I got the call telling me that he wouldn’t be home for a while, I cried. A great man, my dearest love, is gone from my life right now, and the hurt from that made me cry.
Crying is a natural reaction to seeing something you have and miss, used to have and miss, or never had and really want. Crying is a release, an expression of that emotion just as we have expressions for every other emotion we have. We laugh when we’re happy. We scream when we’re frightened, or we shake. We yell when we’re angry. We cry when we’re sad, and we’re often sad because we’re lonely. Lonely for someone, something, or somewhere.
What is so unfortunate is that so many people think of crying as a negative thing. We do not find laughing to be negative. Nor screaming when we’re frightened, nor yelling when we’re angry. So long as the expression of our emotions are done in moderation and not carried to extremes, they are absolutely acceptable…except crying. Why are we so afraid of our own tears? Something to consider, and maybe a title for another article.
