Tears - 10/24 /05 2005 Archive - 2006 Archive

Do not miss the fortune of the English language that gives us two words with the same spelling and different pronunciations and meanings. They are called homonyms. Being a student of the biblical languages (Hebrew and Greek), albeit a poor one, I am just knowledgeable enough to recognize that the coincidences and word play among English homonyms, like similar word play in other languages, is more chance than design. But that doesn’t stop me, or the biblical writers, from exploring the synchronicity of these unintended ironies.

As a noun, tear describes the saline secretion of the lachrymal gland that serves to lubricate and cleanse the eye. Even Webster notes that powerful emotions tend to bring forth more tears than they eye can hold, causing them to run down the cheek. The dictionary-identified tear-producing emotions are “sadness, pity, joy, or great amusement.”

In Whistling in the Dark, Frederick Buechner writes, “You never know what may cause them. The sight of the Atlantic Ocean can do it, or a piece of music, or a face you’ve never seen before. A pair of somebody’s old shoes can do it. Almost any movie made before the great sadness that came over the world after the Second World War, a horse cantering across a meadow, the high school basketball team running out onto the gym floor at the start of a game. You can never be sure. But of this you can be sure. Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention. They are not only telling you something about the secret of who you are, but more often than not God is speaking to you through them of the mystery of where you have come from and is summoning you to where, if your soul is to be saved, you should go to next.”

As a verb, tear is “to break the fiber of (a fabric, paper, etc.) by exerting a strong pull; or to subject to intense or conflicting emotions.” (Webster) We often speak of the pain of being torn away from something near and dear to us, the arms of a loved one, or a particularly enjoyable activity, for instance. The action of tearing, then, is seldom associated with comfort.

The irony of these two homonyms is that one may be part of the healing for the other. The noun may just be God’s gift of healing for the inevitability of the verb. The cleansing lubricant in our eyes may open the door to safe passage through the verb that rends our bodies, hearts and lives in two. With Buechner, I believe that the emotionally induced secretion in our eyes can be part of the path to the healing of who we are and who we can become.

On what path do/will your tears and tears lead you?

© 2005 Todd Jenkins