“It’s OK to cry.”
But is it only OK if you have permission? Is it more OK if you are alone? What about at a desk, at work, choking them back so notices and it's like you never really cried at all, is that OK? Is it more OK if the reason is for someone else and maybe, for once, not yourself? Or are they always for you?
Tears are the
strangest, most versatile of physical reactions. Sometimes they are happy, more
often, they are not. Sometimes they're hot and salty with fury, sometimes they
are thin and wet, cold and numb. Some arrive unannounced and uninvited and
interrupt the party. Others are like that old friend you haven't seen in years,
making you feel safe and comforted and at home. You could cry about anything,
if you look around enough, or you could cry about nothing, if you were
melodramatic enough, but you can also cry about everything and nothing all
once, just because the world is bright and ever-changing and you are small and
alone, which is nothing as far as the day to day of your reality is concerned,
but everything, everything, everything, if you want to find balance in your place in this world, and as scary as it is, there is comfort
in that.
"Don't let them see you cry
When the dam breaks down
And the city's covered in water
'Cause I believe we fly
When the moon takes shape
And I dose off, on your shoulders
And the trust you see, it's you
So breathe while you're alive
Let the big band play
As you tap leather with your fingers
And I tried to write in style
But the words just come
And I write them as soon as I see them
And I trust that you write them too
And I trust that you love me too."
~Don't Let Them See You Cry
Manchester Orchestra, Mean Everything to Nothing
