The word “cry” is like the word “love” or the word “friend”. What does it mean? Different things to different people. I tear up a little easier than some stoic manly men I know, but it doesn’t affect my functioning at all- in fact I think that it’s a by-product of greatly heightened sensitivity. I don’t sit around and sob into my pillow in frustration, I don’t bawl in pain or shake with anger. I find that tedious and it’s not within my “range of motion”, if you will.

If a tear falls from my eye it’s usually while I’m intensely focused on something- maybe a really good movie or similar work of art, or a deeply personal social setting- incidents that involved this happening include:

– a friend’s funeral (not because he was dead, that I didn’t mind- it was the realization that he had died while living his dreams, which was simultaneously tragic and uplifting)

– witnessing two close friends resolve a catastrophically violent argument as they realized that they were both angry at each other and felt hurt and betrayed over a series of misunderstandings primarily because they both cared about each other deeply, but did not communicate that effectively to one another (this struck me as something incredibly tragic and symbolic of pretty much every unnecessary conflict throughout the history of mankind)

Stuff like that. I think it’s important to realize that people will cry, like maybe once or twice a year. I think being overwhelmed- either by good or bad- is a justifiable reason for tears. The problem arises, perhaps, when you find yourself getting overwhelmed far too often, far too easily. Then that probably means you need to work on your coping mechanisms, your worldview- because there’s something ineffective about the way you operate. It’s like needing to pee really often- there’s nothing really wrong with it, but if it gets problematic to the point where it affects your functioning, then maybe you need to do something about it.