[Previous entry: "Reading Right Now: Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood"] [Next entry: "Quote of the Day"]

04/21/2005: "Crying, Cranky Kids"

I love how as a kid you don’t need a valid reason to cry or be cranky. You are allowed to express how you feel even if it doesn’t make sense. I kind of miss that freedom. As adults, we’re expected to a) not get emotional most of the time, or at least b) have a darn good reason for it when we do.

This morning I sat behind a boy and his mother. He was distraught and crying and saying something about how he didn’t like the blue and he didn’t like the orange, and so on and so on. He wasn’t making any sense. I couldn’t discern what the colors had done to upset him so. But it didn’t matter. He was upset with such earnestness and honesty that I started getting misty-eyed myself.

His mother didn’t require him to make sense. She didn’t tell him he was being ridiculous or that he shouldn’t be so upset. Instead she was unfailingly calm and reassuring. It worked. Soon his tears were fading and a smile was sneaking into his face.

It was such a heart-warming scene that it stuck with me all day.