# What makes you cry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147 "2006-08-17T22:09:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![tsarina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@tsarina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsarina)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/61 "2006-08-18T23:16:33Z")
I don’t listen to a lot of country, but there’s a few songs that get me: - “Baby Girl” by Sugarland, because it reminds me how much my parents love me even when I’m breaking their hearts and chasing crazy dreams. - “God Blessed the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts, because it’s exactly how I feel about my boyfriend, an acquaintance from high school that I hooked back up with after evacuating from New Orleans last year. If we end up getting married, this will be our first dance (but don’t tell him, it’s a surprise). - Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt”. Hoooo boy. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/62 "2006-08-18T23:18:57Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > I thought of another thing that made me cry, and still makes me tear up when I think of it: In the summer Olympics in Athens, at the opening cerermonies, they had a runner, dressed simply in white, running around the track and breaking through white finish line tape, each tape having the year of an Olympics game, and (I think) the city. \ I remember that moment! Everyone in my house who was watching it with me had an :eek: moment when he fell down, because it looked like he’d had an accident in front of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, and then the announcer’s voice said “World War I” and we got it. But what a moment–and what an image. ---
**Author:** ![pudytat72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pudytat72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pudytat72)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/63 "2006-08-19T00:24:07Z")
The Star Spangled Banner makes me tear up. And some drum cadences can do it too. ---
**Author:** ![Grammaticaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@Grammaticaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grammaticaster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/64 "2006-08-19T01:21:41Z")
The final scene from the Simpsons episode “And Maggie Makes Three.” Homer has taken covered the “Don’t forget – you’re here forever” plaque on his office wall with pictures of Maggie, making it say “Do it for her.” I’m not sure why that gets me, but even typing it now … My wife tears up every time we fly out of Delta and pass the hangar “FLY DELTA JETS” painted on it. When I ask her about it she says something about it being “so hopeful … so optimistic.” ---
**Author:** ![Grammaticaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@Grammaticaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grammaticaster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/65 "2006-08-19T01:27:07Z")
Apparently I’ve forgotten how to type in my grief. ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/66 "2006-08-19T01:49:53Z")
The scene at the end of Hoosiers does it for me. Also any pet based pathos like the Futurama episode will do it. Oddly, watching real pets on that Animal Cops show on Animal Planet just makes me angry. ---
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/67 "2006-08-19T01:54:43Z")
Ava Maria as sung by Chloe Agnew. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/68 "2006-08-19T02:04:29Z")
> [@RSSchen](#): > > Yeah, that’s my tearjerker too. And my dad’s still here. > > I also cry over One Hundred Years by Five for Fighting **and, for a time, With Arms Wide Open by Creed. That one’s my boy’s song**. Mine too. I never heard anyone say it was their son’s song besides me. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/69 "2006-08-19T02:19:52Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > “When She Loved Me” in Toy Story 2. I can’t even THINK about that without crying. > > In the book Little Women, the chapter in which Beth dies, and the chapter that includes Jo’s poem about the four wooden chests in the attic. Yup. > [@delphica](#): > > Anything that relates to the father/daughter dynamic, no matter how trite or overplayed or stupid – I have no idea why this is, my own dad is alive and well and frequently works my last nerve, but I am a blubbering mess at anything that even hints about a father and daughter and the slightest sad situation. If there was a Lifetime Movie Of the Week called “OMG, My Dad Has A Hangnail!” I’d be reaching for the Kleenex. > Reply With Quote Yup. One scene is \*Mulan, \*of all movies, when he says, > [@](#): > > The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter. Goddamn, I’ve choked up again. I know why - from birth I never won my real father’s approval, merely by being female. Grave of Fireflies - I won’t watch this ever again. > [@freckafree](#): > > This children’s book, which very nearly crosses the line into glurge, but it gets me every time. Good lord. I couldn’t remember the name of it, googled some key words, found this link, and now I’ve gotta go find Kleenex. I started reading this and rolled my eyes and generally thought “WTH? This isn’t sad, it’s annoying. And what is she doing crawling into his house?” Then we got to the end, and yup. The other things that get me good are: The scene in Saving Private Ryan when the military car pulls into her drive to tell her about her children, and her legs just give out under her - you know she gave up her boys willingly but no matter what, you wonder - Which one? Which one? Matter of fact any scene where loving parents are notified of a dead child. Also scenes where an adult man is so broken up with grief he can no longer even hold in his emotions. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/70 "2006-08-19T02:34:11Z")
Generally don’t cry period, but the ending of Final Fantasy VIII always gets me. Specifically, the scene at the grave with the flashback and to a lesser extent the very last scene. I’m a sucker for a happy ending. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/71 "2006-08-19T03:49:51Z")
> [@Jodi](#): > > I thought of another thing that made me cry, and still makes me tear up when I think of it: In the summer Olympics in Athens, at the opening cerermonies, they had a runner, dressed simply in white, running around the track and breaking through white finish line tape, each tape having the year of an Olympics game, and (I think) the city. It was a really simply way to symbolize the Olympics progressing through time. So the guy is running, and he gets to 1916 – and he falls down. He gets up and runs again, and then he gets to 1940 and falls again, tries to get up and falls yet again (1944). The 1916 Olympics were cancelled because of WWI, and the 1940 and '44 Olympics were cancelled because of WWII. I think because it was the first post 9/11 Olympics and the whole war situation, I just found it really affecting. I still get misty thinking about it. This reminds me of one other “crying moment” I forgot about. It was an Olympic scene too. I was watching a history program called “100 Years of Olympic Glory.” In a segment about the games in Mexico City, in 1968, they showed a marathon runner from Tanzania, the very last to finish the race. I guess he was the last athlete to finish in the whole Games, because the men’s marathon is the last event. Anyway, this poor guy has hurt his leg. It’s bandaged up. He runs a short stretch, then has to stop to catch his breath. He keeps running and halting, he _knows_ he’s last, and that the winner crossed the finish line over two hours before. But he won’t quit. As he hobbles into the stadium, the workers spy him and are so moved(they’ve been breaking down the marathon set up, to allow for the closing ceremonies) they put the winner’s tape back up so he can break it. When asked why he didn’t just give up and quit, John Steven Akhwari said “My country didn’t send me 7000 miles to start a race, they sent me 7000 miles to finish it.” Damn, that’s what real sport is all about. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/72 "2006-08-19T04:38:44Z")
_Field of Dreams_ > [@](#): > > Hey Dad. You wanna have a catch? That’ll do it. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/73 "2006-08-19T05:04:04Z")
Ducking back in: Mel Gibson should be out of work for a loooong time, but I swear, the _Passion of the Christ_ left me a sobbing wreck–the religious significance for me, plus the sheer emotional drainage of watching a guy getting tortured, broken, and crucified for two hours, was too much. Also, I got teary-eyed at\* The Breaking of the Fellowship\* on the FOTR soundtrack, but _The Hornburg_ on the TTT soundtrack actually made me cry: there’s something about that slow, sad, stirring march, so full of grim resignation and determination, that gets me every single time. The same went for _The Steward of Gondor_ and _The Grey Havens_ on the ROTK soundtrack. Howard Shore is one of my personal gods. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/74 "2006-08-19T05:11:03Z")
> [@Grammaticaster](#): > > My wife tears up every time we fly out of Delta and pass the hangar “FLY DELTA JETS” painted on it. When I ask her about it she says something about it being “so hopeful … so optimistic.” Yes! Even when I’m looking forward to where I’m going, the airplanes around me and take off make me cry. Oh, thank goodness I’m not the only one. The rest of the thread is so full of the antithesis of what gets me. (Except the Olympic runner falling and the “I’ll love you for always” book. I wept like a baby at those.) I get the same teary “so hopeful…so optimistic” feeling at the movie theaters, for some reason. The stupid ad for the movie theater itself, with bright lights blinking and concession stand treats wooshing around and Hollywood being bigger than life - it’s like “Let’s Go to the Movies” from Annie. I’m fighting tears before movies more often than during them! Tell your wife I get it. Really, I do. Even though I’m a generally optimistic person, good things make me cry much more often than bad. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/75 "2006-08-19T06:14:40Z")
I think that the only movie that ever made me cry was _Schindler’s List_…and I didn’t actually tear up until the epilogue, when the actors from the movie approached the grave of Schindler along with the people (or descendants) of the ones they portrayed in the movie to lay stones on the grave. Why? Well, the movie itself was an emotional bitchslap, but it only really hit home when I saw the faces of the people who were actually affected by the events in the movie. Music, however, can make me tear up far more often. There have been many songs that make me feel the tears come on (from elation as often as melancholy) ranging from the 1812 Overture to various hymns that still resonate with me somehow even though I have not been a Christian for 6 years (such as “Come thou fount of every blessing”) . In recent years, the songs that have evoked the strongest response have been by [The Gathering](http://www.myspace.com/gatheringofficial), especially _Travel_ and _Waking Hour_. _Travel_ is a song that lead singer Anneke van Giersbergen wrote as a heartfelt tribute to Mozart, and (especially after seeing her sing it live, seeing how much true and naked emotion she was pouring into the song) it makes me tear up every time now. _Waking Hour_ is a beautiful song that has hopeful tone; a sample of the lyrics at the end, simple and beautifully sung: "The fight is done And who are we to judge What will become All the iron armour Is laid down away Followed by the heroes Who belong on rested earth, we pray We feel the rescue coming near Within the woken soul to hear we sense the calm all wrapped in fear And all the while we heed The senses way too vast to see We beg of you to not let go Our names will provide us with a soul Falling down Start again Life can bring you down The monumental truth Of elegance in you Falling for A part of who you are Makes you shine inside" ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147/76 "2006-08-24T16:11:51Z")
Watching Mr. Holland’s Opus! “Beautiful, Beautiful… Cole!” “Look around you, Mr. Holland. We are your opus!” Gets me every time! * * * The longest bout of freely falling unabashed tears was a performance of Mozart’s Requiem by the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Before beginning, the conductor dedicated the performance to Pope John Paul who had just died only days prior. I’m not Catholic, nor did I particulary admire nor care about the Pope. It was the simple power of what he said in dedication, “Tonight we dedicate this performance to Pope John Paul II - a man who worked for peace in a world in desparate need of it.” Laced with his well timed pauses and with his obvious sincerity, this one sentence set me up for the waterworks that began with the first chord and didn’t let up for almost the entire performance. I was not alone in this… I’m sure the extra moisture generated in that auditorium caused shifts in weather patterns for a 50 mile radius. As a bonus: I have season tix to the WSO and I alternate taking a begruding member of my family along with me. This night it was my then 9-year old daughter’s turn. When the tears started flowing she stared at me in amazement She looked around and saw the look on everyone’s face and for the first time experienced the raw power of just music (although not affected herself). Since then she’s begged to come with me for every performance (to the relief of everyone else in the family :D). She’s asked for violin lessons and has practiced diligently almost every day since she started taking them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-cry/369147.md?page=3)