Cries at Movies

So, a bunch of us did get to go see Charlotte's Web last Saturday. It was good. It was very good. I cried. A lot! I was going to outline what bits did it to me, but I don't want to give anything away on the outside chance that you don't know the plot. Suffice it to say that the third act got me going, one thing after another, and leave it at that. Jenny was very comforting!

But it got me to thinking about the social relevance of a full grown man crying at a movie. And it reminded me of Dar Williams, or rather, her song, "When I Was A Boy" Here are the first and last verses, I think you'll appreciate why it comes to mind...

I won't forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand
I said I was a boy; I'm glad he didn't check.
I learned to fly, I learned to fight
I lived a whole life in one night
We saved each other's lives out on the pirate deck.
And I remember that night
When I'm leaving a late night with some friends
And I hear somebody tell me it's not safe, someone should helpme
I need to find a nice man to walk me home.
When I was a boy, I scared the pants off of my mom,
Climbed what I could climb upon
And I don't know how I survived,
I guess I knew the tricks that all boys knew.
And you can walk me home, but I was a boy, too.


And like the woods where I would creep, it's a secret I can keep
Except when I'm tired, except when I'm being caught off guard
I've had a lonesome awful day, the conversation finds its way
To catching fire-flies out in the backyard.
And I tell the man I'm with about the other life I lived
And I say now you're top gun, I have lost and you have won
And he says, "Oh no, no, can't you see
When I was a girl, my mom and I we always talked
And I picked flowers everywhere that I walked.
And I could always cry, now even when I'm alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl too.
And you were just like me, and I was just like you.

I think it's time to take back the notion that you are just like me, and I am just like you, don't you? I won't care if you're a gal who climbs trees, as long as you don't care that I'm a guy that cries at movies.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
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PS The last movie that made me cry was The Iron Giant What was yours?