Long before Pasteur formulated the germ theory of disease, the ancient Greeks had a rather eccentric theory to explain why diseases occurred in human beings. They say that any ailment is caused by the excess of any of the humors, or the fluids inside the human being. When any of these fluids go above their normal levels, they tend to cause a serious imbalance inside and therefore, cause discomfort and pain. The only way to relieve pain is to inflict more pain by extracting and taking out the excess fluids. To prove this theory, they have rather misrepresented a lot of things that occurred in the human body. A good example would be the appearance of pus. Yes, pus does appear like an excess portion of the skin's fluids, and it goes gushing out from an infected wound, which, of course, causes pain. And true enough to their theory, once you squeeze out all the pus and clean the wound, it heals more quickly. And so, because of pus and other "evidences", the Greeks have, for centuries, said "Hah! I told you so!"to other civilizations that coexisted with them.

As a Bio major, I find this theory funny, because due to modern and current knowledge, I know where diseases and other discomforts really come from. But just now, I realized that this ancient and baseless theory still holds true for certain things that occur in the human body and psyche.

Isn't crying an example of taking out excessive fluids from the body that may damage it completely? The lachrymal ducts in your eyes produce a great deal of fluid that clouds your vision, cleans your eyes and waters your parched cheeks. It gets rid of the excess humors that fill the mind and heart with incoherent cries and violence to the brim.

Notice that after you're done crying, you feel better.

You feel less hopeless.
You feel less suicidal.
You feel less homicidal.
Your head clears.
You see things better.

So taking out excess things from the body through tears has its benefits.

But it's funny that though we know of its benefits, we still don't want to cry.

It seems like that for humans, getting eaten and destroyed from the inside is a lot better than showing weakness and vulnerability.

Stupid human ego.

But hey, I am human, aren't I?