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Marguerite / Flea's avatar

It did make me cry. Thank you Toby, and well done. ❤️

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Rob True's avatar

For some reason, I rarely cry at anything. Me wife says I'm dead inside. This, like many things that make others cry, left me unemotional. It's well written, and a beautiful scene, but it don't touch me.

I realised later in life, it might be due to being schizophrenic (as is much else in my life), as a symptom is muted emotion.

It takes different things to make me cry. Unexpected things. Mind, I do have 'inappropriate emotional response' to many things. I once cried watching a documentary about the colour blue. I love blue. The colour I mean, not the shit boyband. Another odd thing I noticed is, I can become aroused by someone crying. I also laugh at things most are horrified by. Terrible things. I don't know why. Someone suggested nerves, but I don't get nervous about anything. I have no jump reaction either.

I'm sure the piece made others cry, but not me. I don't think I experience empathy unless I'm connected to someone someway. Not necessarily to know them, but even meet them and talk to them or something. Children dying don't upset me if I don't know them. I always think, it's sad, but billions of people died throughout history, often horribly, so it just seems part of life to me. I understand it's tragic for the parents, and I'd be devastated if my boy died (yes, I have a child, I'm aware some think this changes you into a more compassionate and empathetic person, but I still don't cry at kids dying). This can be difficult at times, when I don't have the expected reaction in a social situation, and people look at me like I'm a monster.

My brother hanged himself. We were close. I was devastated. But I can look at images of men hanged, see it films, read it in books, no bother. Funny thing is, when I'm with someone who needs empathy, I'm told I can be more empathic than most. I suppose I can get in others' minds and see it from their eyes. All this aside, I don't think I ever cried from anything I read in fiction or non-fiction.

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The Chelsea Writer's avatar

No tears. I'm not sure what point you were actually trying to make, but, as you didn't involve me, the reader, with the character , I had no emotional investment in her. You didn't put me in the scene (not actually write me into the scene but make me feel as though I was witnessing this along with you), I had no experience of sorrow. And even if you hadn't set it up for me to resist feeling, I'm sure I would not have felt anything. So, not really sure what you were up to with this.

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Özgür Uyanık's avatar

Brilliantly articulated and the execution is 👌

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Bill Hiatt's avatar

The example make your point quite nicely.

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Rowena Macdonald's avatar

Oh that is such a sad little story. It didn’t make me cry but I’m sure if I had seen it IRL it would have done.

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