[Tension & Renewal - XXIV]
A friend started tearing up while sharing at a recent Christmas gatherings. He said, “As you get older, you cry more.”
I’ve thought a lot about that statement in the last couple weeks.
Is it true that a rise in age correlates with a rise in crying? I’ve know grown men that never shed a tear, grow colder, and seem more emotionally stoic than ever before. Clearly it’s not always true.
However, what was behind my friend’s statement was a contention that I do believe is universally true: with age comes an accumulation of wounds, and depending on what we do with those wounds warrants different emotional responses.
If we open to those wounds, our sensitivity grows and crying becomes easier.
If we close off to those wounds, we close out a sensitivity for ourselves and the world.
My friend cries more in middle age because he holds his accumulated wounds gently, and as a consequence his heart is compassionately open to the wounds of the world.
He reminds me what renewal can look like: grown men crying.
