“But laughter beats crying any time,” Does It?!?
After watching the show, I just recently discovered that Behind Her Eyes is basically based on a novel of the same name. So, obviously the next intelligent thing was to read the novel. It is very hard to find breaks between office to read yet I somehow do it.
So, why am I writing about it and how does it relate to the title? Well, In the 4th chapter of the novel, Louise says:
“But laughter beats crying any time” And that got me thinking, does it? Surely there are moments when it’s only laughter that can truly mirror your feelings. But, sometimes just sometimes, there are moments where only crying is justified. And no, I am not talking about the worse kind of circumstances, I am talking about the sweet moments where the first thing that you feel is noting but tears. The tears we all know as tears of joy!!
I just want to say that not every time laughter beats tears. I did not know the meaning of tears of joy until I was sitting in a competion at the age of 10 with my two fellows, waiting anxiously for the Spoken English Contest Results. The minute they declared that not only my class beat the other campus but also our campus stood first, I started jumping. But, I felt the corner of my eyes wet. That was strange, I thought. Because I was supposed to be happy. Not these sticky tears. Anyways, that was THE FIRSR EVER TIME I FELT THOSE TEARS OF JOY!
But, aside from my personal experience I want to say that this ain’t true. At least not all the damn time. Laughter does not beat crying every time.
Not when you have made peace with the fact that your life is going to be a constant struggle, below ordinary with full of bumps and then something ordinary happens all of a sudden.
Not when you hear those loud cries and hold those tiny fingers for the first time.
Not when you are having an afternoon tea in your backyard and look back at all the struggles and hardships you had to go through to finally realise “I did it.”
Not when you accepted your fate that no matter how much effort you put in you will always going to be number second but suddenly you are not.
Not when you thought your results are just mediocre but your loved ones make it as if you’ve crossed the highest peak in the world.
These are just some of the instances I could think at the back of my mind when i think about how laughter is indeed beaten by crying. Another incident I’d like to share is when I was standing next to my best friends in principal’s office, waiting for our matriculation result to be announced. The second my ears heard the numbers 903 I started crying while Zaeema hugged me and scolded me for crying. (She saw my breakdowns back in 9th grade when I anticiapted 500 and had only gotten 427.) And so I told her, these are tears of joy. I didn’t even think i’d be able to cross 820.
Before I spill more of my personal life here, I think I’d like to just sum it up by saying; yes there are times when crying is the only think you can think of when you are met with extraordinary circumstances, and that too; positive.
