It’s alright to cry
Enjoying the pleasure of a music video clip singing about sweet mother in my admirable Hausa language, I left my wife and children to be all alone. Tears welled up my eyes as I recalled my late mother’s memory. “Real men don’t cry”, I was told. It was true with me, as a teenager, since I found it very difficult to weep. Though I knew I needed emotional healing but what could I have done?
I remember shedding tears when my mum passed on but that was all. Afterwards, I could only apply menthol to draw tears whenever tragedy hit anyone around me. I needed tears but it wouldn’t come. I could induce myself to bring out water from my eyes if only to sympathise with a friend. And suddenly, I got healed of that hard emotion. Thank God I did! Many could not scale through an emotionless life and ended up taking their own lives. Did you call it suicide?
Well, such is life. Real men don’t cry but real men commit suicide. Real men cry! I cry and it has been a therapy of sort for me. Once, my wife delivered, and I suddenly broke down in tears in the hospital when it occurred to me that my mother wouldn’t carry my daughter. Help came from spirited people right in time. Tear humbles a man. Tear heals a man. The language of tears can only be understood by the speaker. It’s alright to weep. The Holy Writ points out a scary fact that some tears will be wiped in heaven.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Rev. 21:4
So God acknowledges our tears after all. Some tears are sorrow laden but others, tears of joy. Women cry when they are happy. Some shed tears in real worship when they realise the awesomeness of God. Others weep when they are confused. Yet, some shed tears due to eye problem. Whatever the reason for tears, it is not out of place to express ourselves when you need to do so.