When crying feels like greed . . .

I told my mother that I have trouble crying because she taught me to laugh at the ridiculous.


She taught me to laugh at myself, to remedy the distorted perspective of self as most important, most knowing - the focus point of the universe. Twisting the tears into a lens of self-reflection that is about more than personal hurts and struggles.


There is something ridiculous about sitting in an apartment that smells faintly of your roommate's cat and burnt chicken, looking at the empty hole in the carbon monoxide detector that's meant to hold the batteries, and stressing over the opening conjunction of a thesis statement.

Picture it.

Enjoy an amused smile.

A new perspective.