Tuesday, 6 September 2022

ADULT CRYING ( An Essay )

 

ADULT CRYING




 

It's normal to think that what makes people cry are the sad things. This thought makes perfect sense when we are children and cry because we are hungry, have cramps or want to sleep. But when you get older and mature, it gets a little weird. However, it is the human condition. Do we cry for the same reasons or for others?

I went into a public office and I saw a lady in tears. I did not understand: nothing comforted her. Therefore, we deduce she had dealt with or talked to someone not affable, rude, stupid.

Yes, lack of patience, education and rudeness are the most obvious and the most severe reasons for making the tears run down fast. There are two kinds of crying. That one which drains and exhaust us. And the other which has a salty taste when it drips, touches us on the lips and comes along with a relief, the one that make us feel alive.

We cry when we feel strong love. When we face our destiny. When we feel trapped.  As we walk free. We cry for both joy and pain. We cry during war and during the victory. I noticed that there is this bias, the ambiguity of crying. It does not necessarily have to come from things that are harrowing or terrible. We also cry when we come across charms. For special grace. For the epiphany of life.

I cry even when I wake up from a good dream, or watching a soap opera kiss. When I feel a very strong kindness towards me, and for a moment time could stop and it could last forever. At that moment, everything makes sense.

Have you ever watched the movie Before Midnight, by Richard Linklater?  The characters (a couple) are on a weekend in Greece and go to a hotel room where he promised “a quality time’’ between them, after all, the landscape was ideal and beyond inspiring. However, there is a stronger reason why they are there: to come clean with each other. They blame each other for every disappointment and abandonment they suffered. The couple is so upset, they need each other so much, however, they cannot take some time for themselves whenever they’d like, and it makes them angry. But they realize life is like that, and will not stop fighting for each other in the future. And this moment touched me with empathy and tenderness for the human being, for the weakness and difficulty of living alone.

In the movie, what began with a bitter trigger – “I do not love you anymore, you've ruined my whole life” − finished with “I'm so sorry we must break up, but I love you as I always have loved you”. They are fighting for their connection, for what they build together. Very beautiful, isn’ it? I shed some tears when I came to the conclusion that passion carries so many illusions, as love brings forth the truth.



By Gabriel Colombo

 

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