Holding Tears

Emotional tears all look different under the microscope.

Microscope images of my tears were taken by Rose-Lynn Fischer. These were then turned into small objects to be held.

Society has tried to codify all that is primal. A part of us that makes us who we are is constantly

suppressed whether we realize it or not. We search desperately to understand things that are

not meant to be understood but felt. We codify eating and sex and feel shame when we break

the rules. Why do we often feel embarrassed when we cry in public? Crying is one way our

bodies reach out to others for help, for empathy, for touch, for love. But we suppress it.

We pick apart and rationalize everything, thinking knowledge will give us control which will give

us power, stability. We think we are no longer animals forced to react to the whims of nature

and God. But crying results from the failure of thinking. It is our thoughts that create sadness

and happiness. It is the overwhelming of the rationalizing that erupts into tears. We cannot

process everything. Perhaps, this is why we are ashamed of crying; it is the failure to separate

ourselves from the animal.

The truth is, we think we have evolved but we have not. The machines we have built have

evolved but we remain the same. We pretend to be proud we are separate from the animals but

secretly long to feel the freedom that comes with being one with the world with nature. We can

not go back, but we can dream. We look far to the heavens and deep into microscopes, wish

and pray for our loneliness to be filled but what we should really do is cry.

Cry more, cry in public, cry together.