Its okay to cry
December 2010
It was a sad day at the Hegde household. Their pet cat, who had lived with them for 15 whole years (more than the children had for Akash was only 10 and his sister Deepa was only eight), had died the day before and everyone was grieving their loss.
Fluffy had been such a joy to have around. The more Akash thought about never seeing her again, the more he felt like crying. He laid his head on his desk and began to weep. Of course his pesky sister had to walk in just then. “Akash is a sissy, Akash is a sissy,” she loudly chanted, before running to tell her mummy, “Akash is crying!”. Mom came and with strong, gentle hands she took him in her arms. Akash put his head on her shoulder and began crying in earnest. “It’s okay,” she told him. “Have a good cry, you will feel so much better.”
“But Mummy,” objected Deepa, “Boys are notsupposed to cry.”
“Who says so?” said Mummy fiercely. “You never heard me say such a thing, I am sure.”
“Yes, but that is what everyone in school says.”
“They are wrong,” said Mummy. “Boys feel sad just as much as girls do and when they feel sad, they want to cry. If they are not allowed to cry, after a while they simply stop feeling. And that is such a sad thing because you can never fully live if you cannot feel. I want my son to grow up knowing that he has the right to feel anything, even sadness. It’s okay to cry, Akash,” she said. Akash lifted his head and managed a watery smile. “I am feeling better, now,” he croaked, thickly, leaning across to plant a grateful kiss on her cheek.
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