Crying

By Sam

“The sorrow which has no vent in tears may make other organs weep.” -Henry Maudsley

Crying is what makes humans able to function.

“Why are you tired?” This was the question that sent me into a fit of bawling. If anyone else had been asked this particular question a simple explanation would have followed, but for me, the tears began to flow. My friend calmed me back down temporarily, but then someone else walked in and asked, “Why are your eyes red?” another fit of bawling soon erupted. Simply thinking about the explanation for the answers to those two questions made me break down.

Early that morning my mother had left to Brazil on a family emergency, I was exhausted because I had to wake up at five in the morning to say goodbye. I clammed up when she was leaving and showed no emotion, because my crying would be contagious and she would soon be sobbing, I couldn’t do that to her. When one keeps those feeling locked inside as tight as possible, it takes one small key in the form of a question or a reminder to make the bomb locked away inside detonate into an explosion of sobs.

Growing up as social beings we are taught the crying in public is a form of weakness. Crying in public is looked down upon and the crier is often ostracized, making crying an extremely personal action. When we see other humans crying it makes us considerably uncomfortable. The multiple variables that go into why the individual is crying make it virtually impossible to know how to comfort them.

When I was crying, neither of the people that had asked me the questions knew the extent of my reasons for sobbing in class. To be honest, neither of them could have said anything to halt my melancholy mood. The real reason I had stopped crying was because I wanted to please the person helping me, I wanted her to know I appreciated her attempts. After I had emotionally imploded during my zero period I admit that I did feel better throughout the day.

The act of crying does show some calming effects, such as slower breathing, but also lead to unpleasant sensations of stress including sweating and increased heart rate. The bodily calming usually lasts longer than the displeasing effects. So crying is our bodies’ response in order to alleviate the stress. What sparks the flame that ignites those tear ducts to produce rivers of salty tears?

A feeling of helplessness.

When humans feel as if we can not control the situation, we cry. When we feel like we have absolutely no influence over what is happening to us, and sometimes others, we sob. When we feel like our worth is questioned, we weep. That is why when an individual receives extremely happy news sometimes they cry because they feel powerless over their position.

The most likely reason that humans weep is for means of communication. Languages create barriers, but emotions are universal. We use crying to identify with others, examples of this are at funerals or weddings. I find it peculiar that crying can either separate people, or bring them together. There are few actions such as bawling that can easily perform the opposite reaction.

Babies cry because they can’t do anything else, they have no words to express what they’re feeling. We can then assume that crying is a more cognitive, and primitive action than speaking, and can be triggered in the brain easier than forming words. One can express how upset, flustered, sad, distressed, or bereaved one is feeling but until those tears flow, no one else truly understands how deep that sadness really goes.



The word “cry” comes from the Latin quirītāre, meaning to cry out, or perhaps from Quirītēs, who were public officers to whom one would cry out in times of need. The word cry in today’s society doesn’t have a completely negative or positive connotation. I believe the connotation is dependent on the instance. If one finds a situation to not be worth tears, crying is used with a negative connotation. Other times when a few tears are added to a particularly heart wrenching speech or display, it adds that much more emotion and causes the crowd watching to associate themselves with that feeling.

Crying, weeping, sobbing, sniveling, bawling, whimpering, blubbering, call it what you want. It can be evoked by emotional or physical distress, but always evokes a response in others. Whether the response is negative or positive, one can’t help but notice the sorrow of their fellow peers. Crying is what can tear people apart, or bring people together. Crying allows a person to let go of their emotions in the form of saline. Crying is what keeps our sanity in tact.