Yesterday morning I was watching a war movie on TV and was touched to see the Commanding General crying after a successful attacked in the Vietnamese camp who maltreated their prisoners of war. He cried because, he lost some of his precious men just to free the captured soldiers in the enemy's camp. One prisoner (soldier) also cried because he was touched by the bravery of his comrades fighting for the enemy just for them to live. He cried because he can’t believe that he will be freed from being a prisoner of war. He cried because those soldiers, who saved them, lost their lives.
Then, in another TV program, I saw a father (an actor) crying during the interview, because his 16 years old daughter gets pregnant. What made him emotional is not because his daughter got pregnant but the man responsible for it- beats his daughter and even told her to take an abortion pills. It is this unconditional love of a father for her daughter that made this father cry instead of getting mad at her by getting pregnant at the young age.
My personal experienced was, seeing my dad mourning when my mom died. I didn’t hear him crying loud but I can feel deep inside he was weeping. His face shows, and his misty eyes says it all. Another experience of a man crying was, when one of my uncle undergo a kidney operation in which he can hardly pee, he cried in pain. But the unforgettable cry of a man that I ever saw was, when my eldest son was admitted in the hospital. His potassium level was down to 1.0mg, that a vial of potassium was needed to be injected in his IV to maintain his potassium level. And when the potassium mixed in the IV, he can’t help not to cry in severe pain. He feels he is dying a slow death that made me cry also. These are just some of reasons that caused some men to cry, I’m sure there are still more or different reasons why men cries.
What made the women cry, that men don't necessarily do?
Most women are emotional and easily weep over melo-drama TV series, romantic stories, separation or grief over the loss of a love one, loneliness, frustrations, or just out of any general sadness. While most men if not all, control their emotions no matter how sad the story is, no matter someone in the family left or died. Even the most precious things they treasures will be broken or lost or even the most love dog is gone. They try to suppress their feelings.
Men are known to be the less emotional sex: they are known to be strong and not easily perturbed or upset when there's family crisis. They stays cool, but deep inside bottled up their feelings by keeping it to themselves and not showing their emotions. While other, drown themselves in a drinking spree or getting drunk just to show up that they can manage to stand the situation, but in truth they are trying to escape from the reality of depression or what caused their grief.
According to studies, what made a man cry easily is caused by a lower testosterone. So when you see a man cries easily and frequently, it could be that his testosterone level decreases as he age, especially when he reach the age of 50 or more. This is why women also cry more than men, because their testosterone is lower than men aside of course if they are overly sensitive.
Does it make a lesser man when he cries?
In our society we tell our kids(boy especially) that, " Don’t cry, because you're a man or Big boys don't cry." In my opinion, some people say this, to boost the ego of the boy that being a boy or a man, he must be strong and superior in all ways. The macho image should be maintained even in the middle of crisis. We expect men to cry less than women, but its surely not wrong for men to be emotional sometimes or letting their teardrops fall. But, not crying or not showing any emotions at all, is not a guaranty that a person is a real man too. It’s not being un-manly or weak when you show your emotions, it’s rather weak, when you're afraid to show your emotions, that in itself is emotional weakness. While we know that both men and women rejoice, gets mad/angry sigh and cry, yell or shout but both express emotions differently. So, I will end this topic and believe that men do cry, because they are also human, they have feelings, emotions, they have strength, weaknesses, short comings and most of all because they are not robots!
