# Can you start and stop crying at will?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-start-and-stop-crying-at-will/317642>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [August 18, 2005, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-start-and-stop-crying-at-will/317642 "2005-08-18T19:37:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-start-and-stop-crying-at-will/317642/21 "2005-08-19T15:22:38Z")

</div>

I hate to cry, so I’ve never cried on purpose. I definitely can’t make myself cry. I divide my crying into two categories: personal emotional pain, and sympathy pain. I hardly ever cry over personal emotional pain, but when I do I usually stop myself before I even realize what I’m doing. Every now and then I’ll let myself have what Mom would call “a good cry,” but it’s always deliberate (and _always_ in private).

Sympathy pain would include crying when I hear that a friend had a miscarriage, when the abused puppy on _Animal Cops_ doesn’t make it, when the troubled teen movie character is reunited with his gruff-but-loving father, etc. That kind of crying happens a little more often, and I don’t feel the need to stifle it as much; for some reason it’s more acceptable to me.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-start-and-stop-crying-at-will/317642.md?page=1)