LET me cry

I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry so bad. I wanted to cry my eyes out so there are no tears left. I wanted to leave my eyes dried out. So I did. So I accomplished in erasing one of my markers, or so I thought. So I melted the one thing that people might have once remembered me by.

Crying. Emotional tears. Emotional tears form in the cerebrum where sadness is registered leading the endocrine system to release hormones to the ocular area, therefore presenting the final result: tears. Charles Darwin once declared emotional tears to be “purposeless.”

That’s the definition of crying. The ONLY definition of crying.

Then why do I see every parent saying to their baby –not any baby, a baby boy- “boys don’t cry. REAL boys don’t cry. Real boys are strong.”

Either these parents research the statistics of each gender of crying or they’re marking every other girl out there. The stereotype that boys should be rough, tough, and non-crybabies simultaneously shames girls.

Perhaps a boy crying is a marker for men; however, a girl crying is representative of dependency and a sensitive nature, which is preferable. A girl not crying is representative of independence and strength, which may make a male feel less helpful and valuable. In each and every way, we are marked. Marked in ways that are unexpected and unprecedented.

Why am I being marked for my endocrine system’s ability to release hormones to the ocular area? Why am I being marked for wanting to express my discontent? Why am I being pushed to not produce emotional tears?

Let me cry. Let me not cry. Let me do what I want without being...marked.