I notice that as I get older I “well up” far more often than I used to. But unlike the Speaker of the House I do not actually cry boo ho. Neither do I need a hankie to blow my nose nor does my face contort into an ugly grimace. But I do look around to see if anyone caught my red eyes and wet cheeks, especially in a movie theater.
It is the same emotional process Mr Boehner suffers. I do not get very emotional over the sad or tragic. I get emotional over the joy of success, or that rare someone who stands up doing the right thing. Happy endings to movies do me in. I welled up most recently at a Jeff Beck concert when he did an instrumental version of The Beatles “Day in the Life”. The beauty of it, making that guitar talk to me, and letting me do the words on my own. I read the news today oh boy…
Those kind of emotional releases are good for us. What is bad for us is when we listen to Talk Radio or watch Fox News to see that human ugliness celebrating guns, violence, war, intolerance, selfishness, greed, bigotry, and always striving to do the wrong thing. It doesn’t sadden, it angers. And it is not good for us.
