Tears For Equality
After the #hangoverforequality ended, my scientific curiosity rebooted and I wondered why I cried so much over the weekend? I wasn’t sad, I was delighted! I was ecstatic! In Leo Varadkar’s words, I was part of a social revolution. Constitutional law doesn’t usually cause tears of anything but boredom, but by gosh were we a crying nation this weekend.
Reports coming in of mass dehydration as everyone keeps making everyone else cry. #MarRef #hometovote #VoteYes
— Jenny Daly (@jennybdaly) May 22, 2015
The #hometovote really set it off on Thursday and Friday.
The #hometovote hashtag will gladden your heart. And make you cry.
— Dr Panti Bliss (@PantiBliss) May 22, 2015
I felt myself overwhelmed with happiness as I participated in history in the making, but fought back the tears as I walked to my polling station to cast my vote.
Am I allowed to cry in the polling station or is showing emotion obviously soliciting a Yes vote? #MarRef
— Isobel Necessary (@isobelkate) May 22, 2015
And afterwards when I met my friends.
Memo to self for the day. You can't cry every time you see someone say they voted Yes. #VoteYes #MarRef
— Jennifer Canesten♠ (@Neev_ie) May 22, 2015
I cried on the train back from Mayo every five minutes on Saturday reading updates and tweets on #marref and at every photo, engagement, and yes result, and at all the positivity emanating from Ireland.
https://twitter.com/JosieLong/status/602179001722007554
I cried when Mayo said Yes!
Final result from the #Mayo count: Yes 52% (28800 votes), No 48% (26560 votes). #MarRef
— Western People (@WesternPeople) May 23, 2015
I cried when I got back to Dublin and saw the rainbow flag above Trinity.
Meg Lee, President of @TCDGSU, needed some filming done. I said YES! #MarRef #YesEquality pic.twitter.com/9VNiaEKCmi
— SimoneCam (@Simonecam) May 23, 2015
Every time I hugged a friend I was about to burst into tears of joy and I was certainly not the only one.
In the words of @Tash_Reynolds :: GLITTERY RAINBOW TEARS OF JOY. #MarRef
— Samantha Blickhan (@snblickhan) May 23, 2015
Cried on the radio. Morto. Cried on the stage in front of Dublin Castle. I AM SO HAPPY WHY DO I KEEP CRYING.
— Una Mullally (@UnaMullally) May 23, 2015
But why?
While crying is usually associated with sadness, occasionally these tears of joy spring forth. Why? Well researchers at Yale got participants in a psychology study to react to positive stimuli such as a happy reunion or cute babies and then recorded how long it took them to return to their normal state. The research suggested we cry to restore emotional equilibrium. People who cry at happy occasions were better able to regulate intense emotions and return to their normal balance state sooner than those who did not cry. So in this instance, it helped the country deal with feeling ‘all the feels’ and then return to work on Monday, #hungoverforequality, but essentially functional.
Although I appreciate a scientific explanation, I really hope that after Ireland’s collective tear-shed this weekend we don’t return to our normal balanced state of sarcasm and cynicism too soon because being a happy nation was awfully nice.
Today is a great day to be Irish. Yes. Tá. All the tears and all the grá. #MarRef
— Pádraig Ó Tuama (@duanalla) May 23, 2015
