Commerical Crying

I’m a female (obviously) which as stereotypical as it sounds, makes me prone to crying. Danny thinks I cry a lot. I really don’t. I believe this is because he didn’t have any sisters growing up to compare my crying habits with.

On a crying scale of 1-10, I would say I’m about a 6. Sure it’s a little above average, but not ridiculous. Of course crying depends on external forces as well as hormonal forces…when the two are aligned, I will admit I’m more of a 7 on the crying scale.

I cry at typical things: Sad sappy movies, intensely sad love songs, when someone I know is hurting, or when I’m hurting. All are fairly typical. There are a few exceptions that even though I cry during them, if someone told me these things made them cry I would giggle (to myself).

The first is the Cymbalta commercial. Cymbalta is an antidepressant. Anyone who watches television has seen it. You know the one “Depression hurts,” camera pans out to show a sad looking lady staring out the window…"everywhere.” The commercial goes on to show other people laying in bed all day, the dog looking sad just wanting to go on a walk, and the kids wanting to play. It’s sad, such a sad commercial. I’ve seen it so many times that my crying has stopped, but I still feel down after I watch that commercial. At the end Cymbalta claims it can help with depression, yet after watching the commercial I’m not sure if anything can help. Maybe that’s Cymbalta's plan…to make me depressed so I’ll start taking their wonder antidepressant. In all seriousness, I hope that the lady staring out the window…and real people staring out the window, find something that will help them: Be it Cymbalta or a hug.

The other commercial that toys with my heart strings is the Liberty Mutual commercial. I’m beginning to think that these advertisement companies want my emotional reactions. Liberty mutual is actually a nice “feel good” commercial. It’s the intense kindness that makes me tear up. The commercial features strangers doing good deeds for strangers, and the onlooker then passes it on. At the end it says, “When it’s people who do the right thing they call it being responsible, when it’s an insurance company they call it Liberty Mutual. Responsibility what’s your policy?”

I think there is something so wonderful about people doing good deeds for each other, even little deeds, like letting someone with a small amount of groceries ahead of you in line. These things don’t happen all too often enough. I am just as guilty as the next guy…hastily driving past a person who is desperately trying to merge over into my lane… Would the 5 seconds it took to slow down and give a little hand wave really have disrupted my day? I don’t think so, in fact I probably would feel better about my day.

A couple of days ago, I had a Liberty Mutual moment. I went to the new Save Max in town. 29 cents avocados can’t be beat. Apparently everyone else in Ripon thought this was a great deal. Save Max, formerly known as Mar Val, has just reinvented itself into a discount grocer. The problem is they have not reinvented the layout of the store. There are still only 5 checkout lines, and no express line. All I wanted were my avocados, lettuce, and eggs along with a quick exit. I got to the lines and saw that people were purchasing much more than avocados. Disappointed, I got in line behind a man with a shopping cart filled to the brim. He turned around and looked at my pathetic avocados and told me to go ahead. What a nice simple gesture. Maybe he saw the Liberty Mutual commercial earlier that day?

On my way home I came to a stop sign with a long cross walk. There was a lady a few yards back from the corner getting ready to cross. I could have gone, she was far enough back that I still had the right of way, but I decided to wait and let her get to the corner then cross. She looked at me and smiled. I smiled back. She looked like a modern day gypsy. She had a skinny leopard print umbrella that she used as a walking stick and long black hair. As she got toward the end of the long cross walk, she turned toward me and blew me a little kiss. That may sound weird, but it wasn’t weird at all. It was a kiss of gratitude from my modern day gypsy lady. I smiled back. How funny that a lady could be so grateful, just because I took 5 extra seconds out of my day. As I made my way home I got a little tear in my eye thinking about my Liberty Mutual moment. I decided I should have more of those moments.

Some people watch a movie to get a good cry in, others read a romance novel, and apparently all I need is a good commercial. All the commercial companies want is for me to buy their products. Unless my crying becomes an everyday occurrence, I don’t think I’ll be using Cymbalta anytime soon and sorry Liberty Mutual, but I’m a loyal State Farm Insurance lady. I will however try to be more considerate of someone who hurts…everywhere… and have more Liberty Mutual moments. Hopefully a new tear worthy commercial will come out soon, so I can have another life lesson.