Teacher Ciello, one of our good friends from the AGS, posted this update on her Facebook page about the first day of school: “A little boy was so upset this afternoon. He was really crying. He wanted to drink Milo but Mom put water in his jug.” The boy was crying his heart out. Thrown as he has been into the mad confusion of the first day of school, he was at least looking forward to the comfort of his chocolate drink. Teacher Ciello’s first and natural impulse was to dry his tears and soothe a disappointed heart. She wrote: “I told him to close his eyes and imagine really really hard that he’s drinking Milo and not water. He said ‘Teacher, it’s not working.’ ha ha”
Why is our natural tendency in the face of tears is to stop them from flowing? Is it wrong to cry? Specially, for men? Often, we reason away the tears: it will pass away; it is not something worth crying over; I brought it upon myself. Or sometimes, we just steel ourselves stoically against the pain or sorrow so as not to shed the tears. But if words be the language of the mind, then tears and laughter are the language of the heart. Laughter, they say is the best medicine. Together with tears, that is. That little boy will soon forget about his Milo but his mother will now never forget to put his chocolate drink in his jug. He will recover from the disappointment but I pray he never loses his sensitive heart that will cry for classmates when they are in pain, a heart that will shed tears for friends when they are in trouble, a heart that will beat for others who are not as blessed as he is, a heart that will move him to action to help those in need.
When one speaks from the heart, one is never at a loss to something to say. For a touch spoken from the heart, says more than a thousand words. When one gives from the heart, no one is so poor as to have nothing to give. For anything given from the heart reeks with the sweet scent of love.
He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.’
Mark 12:38-44