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Quincy
- Our seniors’ group meetings are filled with a variety of
emotions, from sadness, joy, anticipation, embarrassment,
laughter, disgust and even anger. If someone is brought to
tears, some member reacts similarly. A good hearty laugh
will have all members in tears.
Crying is a human emotional behavior and we all engage in it
for one reason or another. Throughout history, and in every
culture, emotional tears are shed. The earliest scientific
attempt to analyze the different behavior of men and women
is in Aristotle’s text. Why do men and women cry, and why do
they cry at different times?
It can be said that woman is more compassionate than man,
more easily moved to tears. Even though male athletes,
entertainers and political leaders may weep publicly, many
men still consider expressing emotion themselves, other than
anger or winning a game, as not masculine and a sign of
weakness.
Men’s and women’s tears vary from culture to culture. Both
are more or less easily moved at different times. The
psychoanalyst Robert Sadoff sums up one school of thought:
“Weeping is a regressive phenomenon, the feeling of weakness
and helplessness of the child as it calls out for aid and
support.”
Is man the only creature that weeps? Charles Darwin writes:
“The Indian elephant is known sometimes to weep. The keeper
of the Indian elephant positively asserts that he has seen
tears rolling down the face of the old female, when
distressed by removal of the young one. Farm animals are
prone to tears, and many different breeds of dogs have shed
emotional tears which have been documented.”
Nineteen centuries ago, Horace, the great Roman poet, wrote:
“As man laughs with those who laugh, So he weeps with
those that weep; If thou wish me to weep, Thou must first
shed tears thyself; Then thy sorrows will touch me.”
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