Tears
Do tears symbolize anything? They said, ‘Yeah..!! Weakness. And those people are weak if they can’t even control their tears.’ Even in happiness or let’s say in extreme happiness we get tears. So, are we weak then? I heard the same answer. People are weak, no matter what the situation is, if tears roll down from their eyes they are weak. Strong people never get tears in their eyes. Tears don’t help people. Or else the popular statement is, “Crying doesn’t help”. Exploring further in this topic you can come across many generic statements. For example, “Have you ever seen a man cry? No, because they are strong or stronger than women. Women cry because they are sensitive (considered as weak). Doesn’t this clarify that tears are for weak people?”
Alas! This is our society where we live. Here tears symbolize weakness. Boys from their early childhood are said not to cry because men don’t cry. Even when they grow up and go to school, they are taunted if they cry. “Why are you crying like a girl?” they are often asked. This is not everything, ‘Hijda hai kya?’ (‘Are you a transgender?’), these type of statements are also heard when a boy cries. We often ignore this and sometimes we laugh at such statements or even worse, we are involved in giving such ridiculous comments. And the current rigid thinking is the result of such ignorance.
People need to take out these tears. They need to cry sometimes. And when I say people, I mean each and every person on this planet irrespective of their gender. You know why? Because tears don’t make you weak. They rather make you stronger.
Suppressing your sorrows, sadness and other emotions in order not to cry, builds up a box of suppressed emotions and no one knows what it will turn into. The reason being, pressure of not crying or not letting things go. When you suppress your sadness it can burst with frustration and you can never predict the intensity.
Parents cry when they see their children after a long time, a soldier cries when he sees his little baby for the first time, a father cries when his children make him proud, a mother cries after giving birth, etc. Do these tears of happiness mean they are weak? Do you think you can be stronger than a soldier who gives up everything for their motherland? Do you think you can be stronger than a mother who has gone through extreme level of pain while giving birth? Can you be stronger than a father who has sacrificed his needs for his family? Definitely not. No one can ever be stronger than this.
People cry in the death of their loved ones. It shows their love for that person and how much they miss them. People cry when they get separated from their loved ones because they love them. People cry when they see someone else cry or witness their sufferings because they are sensitive and are able to understand the pain of others. And most importantly, being sensitive is not an insult. It doesn’t say that you are weak. It rather says you are sensible enough to empathize with others. Tears reveal the emotions which you have.
There is only one thing that can say you are weak and that is ‘giving up’. It doesn’t matter how much you cry or the amount of tears that will roll down your cheek. But the moment you decide to give up, you start losing yourself. Once you cry your heart out then you get stronger than ever before. You open your heart, mind and soul to accept more from life. As Albert Smith says, “Tears are the safety valve of the heart when too much pressure is laid on it”.
