Cry me a river...

"...you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit." 
-Lemony Snicket (The Bad Beginning)

So tonight on "The Bachelorette," Ali said that her decision had nothing to do with the families...but come on.... would you really want to be married to a guy who's dad has a basement full of dead animals!?  Creepy!!!!!!

Anyway.... as Ali was tearfully saying goodbye to Kirk tonight, for some odd reason I started to think about how weird tears are.   I mean, don't you think it's strange how our emotions can elicit a physical response like that?  I do.   I googled it tonight and was surprised to find that no one really knows why we cry.    They know why it happens when our eye is poked, or we are in physical pain, but they still haven't figured out the connection between our emotions and our tears.   Strange, isn't it?   I did read one article that said how our tears that are produced from an emotional response, are different from those produced by physical pain.   The emotional tears have more of a certain hormone in them that is a natural pain killer!  Interesting, isn't it?   I guess that's why some believe that crying is therapeutic, though that has never been proven scientifically really.  

"Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water." ~Antoine Rivarol

One article  said that in a recent study, it was found that women on average cry 64 times a year, and men only 17.   It is also stated how difficult it is to figure out the cause of crying, because it involves so many questions as to whether tears are involuntary or not.   For instance, in recent times, more and more men are learning that crying can be seen as a positive thing, that it shows that they have a sensitive side, that they can be vulnerable.    And just the opposite, more and more women are fighting back the tears in order to show that they are not too sensitive or too vulnerable.

"I often want to cry.  That is the only advantage women have over men - at least they can cry."  ~Jean Rhys

Just another thing that is influenced by the world around us.   Politicians seem to be able to cry on cue these days, and most of the great schools for acting have courses on how to cry on demand!   It's just another thing for us to judge people by I suppose, because even tears can seem so insincere sometimes!  

I've found that the older I get, the more and more I cry.   I'm not really sure why that is, but I think a lot of it is having the confidence to know that it's okay to cry.    I used to see it as a weakness, but I don't anymore.   I think it's okay to cry sometimes, and even good for you.    It's a strange thing, that's for sure!   

"Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts."

~Charles Dickens,Great Expectations, 1860