The other day I found out that my ex-boyfriend has a new girlfriend. The bridge to that relationship is no longer available for me to traipse over to whenever I'm feeling lonely. I thought about all of the wonderful things about this person and how poorly I had treated him at times and I started spontaneously crying throughout the day. At one point I sat at a park bench and started sobbing. People walked by outside while tears gushed out of my eyes. I tried to look like I had allergies, but then I thought, "what's so wrong with crying? Is this shameful?" And then I realized that it's rare that I walk down the street and see anyone sobbing on the corner. I see people laughing or looking happy, or maybe even angry, but never sad. I can't imagine that all the people in the world don't have things to be sad about, with all the cancer, wars, divorce, unemployment, and loneliness that's in the world. But people just don't seem to cry in public in our culture. So, I thought of my own outburst of tears as a form of service to the world. Just for today, I don't have to feel shame for being human.