The mystery of tears

We’ve been crying a lot of tears this past week here in Chiapas. Tears of repentance, tears of being
overwhelmed, and tears of happiness. As
a white Anglo-Saxon male, I don’t understand it all. In an effort to understand this business of
crying, I read the following report by Mary Beth Swan:

A happy cry averages two minutes; a sad cry averages seven
minutes.

Crying in a newborn begins shortly after being born and
indicates the baby’s lungs are functional.
A baby has several distinguishable cries, including an attention cry,
hunger cry, separation cry and pain cry.

Between the ages of 15-30 women cry five times more
frequently than men. Women’s tears flow
more than men’s.

The top reasons for crying are sadness, anger, sympathy and
fear.

A herd of elephants exhibited trumpeting shrill cries, and
tears as they apparently mourned the death of seven of their own who had been
killed by a train. The accident occurred
on November 15, 2001
in India’s state of Assam.
A ranking police officer named Khagen Sangmai was quoted, “About a hundred
elephants were circling the pachyderms that lay
near the railway tracks, with tears rolling down their eyes.”

Crying is a means by which toxins, excess chemicals and
excess proteins are removed from the body.
This “cleansing” occurs with emotional crying.

According to the column “Mind Matters” the average adult in
the U.S. cries no less than three or four times a month. Varying neonatal studies provide a 30 minute
to two hour daily window as the average time an infant cries per day.

An organization called Grief Recovery shares some intriguing
advice to those who walk with those who grieve.
What are your thoughts about what is written? “We must still ask, what
purpose or value, if any, does crying have in recovery from loss. Let us say
that crying can represent a physical demonstration of emotional energy attached
to a reminder of someone or something that has some significance for you. We
encourage someone who is crying to ‘talk while you cry.’ The emotions are contained in the words the
griever speaks, not in the tears that they cry.”- www.grief-recovery.com