scientists say that tears have an evolutionary purpose.only humans shed tears, after all. animals howl - cry out in pain - but tears are the opposable thumb of emotion.
there are theories on this: like anything in evolution, what has stayed with us must have helped in advancing the species.
when in danger, tears signal to your "intimates" (only a few feet away) that you are suffering without betraying your vulnerable state to the predator.
tears built communities, salvaged broken relationships. this is called "theory of mind" or empathy.
tears got someone's attention. the good criers were survivors because they would not be left alone, unattended, go hungry, etc.
when someone is crying, it's difficult to argue with them (or so they say). BACK OFF. I'M ASHAMED. I'M GUILTY. i'm small. don't go.
tears are an evolved mechanism of camouflage (i.e. crocodile tears).
there exists an entire language of tears that we've evolved to perform and interpret simultaneously.
(ah, fascinating what you learn from the radio in the morning before going to work. in the mirror, you smile at the mole under your right eye that superstitious relatives back home had warned you to remove permanently - a sure sign of "a lifetime of tears," they said.
little did they know, you were fortunate enough to be armed with such a predictable fate.)
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