Tears of laughter, tears of pain
Tears are a funny thing.They often come out when you least want them to. When you're trying so hard to keep them in because you don't want anyone to know the emotions you're feeling. When you are sitting there, stoically, the tear betrays you, leaking out of your eye. Damn onions. Who's cutting onions in the room?Sometimes they come out when you least expect it because the moment is so wonderful, so joyous, so glorious, you find your face is wet without even realizing you're crying.I was going to write something about the salty makeup of tears, and then I got curious about what is actually in tears. Imagine my surprise when I found out that emotional tears are significantly different than the tears you get when your eyes are trying to wash an irritant out.
Tears brought about by emotions have a different chemical make-up than those for lubrication; emotional tears contain more of the protein-based hormones prolactin, adrenocorticotropic hormone, and Leu-enkephalin (a natural painkiller) than basal or reflex tears.— Wikipedia
But I digress.I find the tears come more readily and less bidden in the moments I am less guarded. When I am talking or texting with friends - with friends whom I know truly care about me. They are people in whose presence I would not try to hide my tears. So if we are connected virtually, I let the tears flow.Tears tell other people something about us. They tell those people that we deeply care about something. That we care. We care about ourselves, we care about our family and friends. We care about the strangers who will be affected by bad things happening. That we have empathy and compassion.Too often, our society doesn't value those tears. Men have been taught that tears are a sign of weakness. And women, in the workplace, are taught that we need to be more like men, less "emotional" - don't ever cry in front of your boss!But tears are a sign of something good. They are a sign that you are connected to this world.Photo by Claudio Accheri via Flickr Creative Commons.