A few weeks ago, The Daily Mississippian published an article entitled “Top 10 places to cry on campus.” Instagram users responded to the article, sharing their favorite places to cry at the University of Mississippi, virtually wallowing in one another’s sorrow. Talk about a sense of shared struggle.
While this article is innocent on its face, I believe that it is a symptom of something deeply wrong with our college-aged generation.
Being upset to the point of tears on a regular basis is not normal, and we should not accept it as normal. According to the National Education Association, the majority of college students meet the criteria to be diagnosed with at least one mental health problem. But why is this happening? Is there suddenly or coincidentally just a huge spike in chemical imbalances? Or is there something else going on?
Maybe it is the decline of religion. A godless world would surely bring me to tears. Maybe it is the decline of true, meaningful friendships.
Maybe drunkenness and sex without commitment are pitiful things to base your life around.
Maybe the college social culture is toxic.
Maybe students simply have been coddled for so long that they cannot handle a tough homework assignment, an actual job or the lack of an invite, while the generations before us fought wars and worked for what they had.
Maybe you are not ill; only the culture we live in is.
Whatever the cause is, I believe that it is too big of a coincidence for the mental health of college students to suddenly get dramatically worse than that of previous generations. The chances are just too high for there not to be some external problem at play, right? There is a problem deep within the culture, not something uniquely bad about our generation. Rampant crying is just a symptom. This is not normal and therefore should not be normalized.
What should we do? We should learn how to be strong, choosing what is good and hard over what is bad and easy. As author Abigail Shrier said on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, “Making happiness your goal is actually a recipe for being unhappy. If you don’t make your kid strong, he can’t be happy.”
Having an unhealthy lifestyle and worldview cannot be solved by mental health resources alone. More people are in therapy than ever before, and mental health is still declining. While medicines can help some, they are not a cure, only a tool to manage it. As The Daily Mississippian’s article proved, crying and mental illness in general are becoming increasingly destigmatized. However, what if the destigmatization has morphed into celebration?
Although crying can be healthy, and getting help for those who need it is essential, being chronically upset should not be celebrated. It should be mourned, and action should be taken to remedy it. The increase in crying, a symptom of the increase in the mental health crisis, is not a victory. Instead, it should frighten us all. A generation emotionally ill-equipped to handle college classes and life is in no place to handle the real world.
To the students who are struggling and reading this, know that the problem is not you. Our society is broken, giving us many reasons to cry. However, tears without action do not do any good. Go to church. Build long-lasting meaningful friendships. Cultivate mental fortitude. Develop a work ethic. Do hard things. Have high aspirations. Choose responsibility and virtue over pleasure and vice. Then, do not celebrate your tears: Celebrate your triumphs.
Cass Rutledge is a junior majoring in public policy leadership from Madison, Miss.
