Even Elephants Cry
A Post Holiday Reflection on Grief, Love and Healing
Elephants are exquisite creatures, full of wisdom, memory, and heart—they remind us of the depth of emotion that exists in all living beings.”
I am revisiting this piece, which I wrote several years ago. I think of this story every Christmas, and I want to share it again here with you as a gentle reflection for the season.
We often take for granted the gift of tears. Humans who struggle to cry, and those who are unable to shed saltwater from their eyes, do not take this gift for granted. Human emotions are a gift, and they help us heal and grow.
Somewhere on an old computer drive, I have a photo of my baby sister riding an elephant in India. The photo shows her wet and smiling. It was taken right after she fell off the elephant, and it picked her up with its trunk and placed her back safely on its back.
My baby sister travelled the world after graduating with an undergraduate degree in psychology. She worked, studied, and travelled while searching for herself and what she wanted to do in life. I travelled with her in spirit and through our talks, writing, and virtual visits. The pictures told stories that words could not convey, and the tears from the elephant are one.
I myself cried many tears when she was gone, and I missed her dearly. I also felt my father’s pain in having her away and his fear of dying before she returned. I felt the passage of time and a sense of longing.
I graduated from university at the same time that she did, even though we were ten years apart. It was a gift to go to school with her. After I graduated, I started a career in healthcare, and my life responsibilities as a parent continued.
My daughter desperately missed my sister, for she was like a sibling she never had. True love is when you are happy for someone even though you are missing them, so we were happy for her and hoped that she would someday return. Christmas time had been particularly hard, and we felt the pain of separation even deeper.
The story of her elephant ride and rescue was a tender story that remains forever in our hearts. My sister was terrified to ride the elephant, and yet this did not stop her. In fact, she was scared of many things in strange countries, and still she explored, learned, and settled there.
Her story of how the elephant rescued her from the water was and is not an unusual one. After hearing it, we researched and studied more about elephants. We learned that they seemed to feel and show the emotions of grief and loss, and cried tears. This, of course, is debated by many in the scientific world.
I do know that majestic elephant rescued my sister many moons ago, and this remains with me a lesson on humanity and the connection we have with animals. I believe my sister cried a few tears that day herself and hugged the elephant. I remember the look on her face and my father’s face the day she told the story. All of us had tears in our eyes, and these tears were of love, joy, and gratitude.
If you struggle to show how you feel or feel ashamed when you cry, remember: even majestic elephants shed tears, and what we think is weakness is empathy and strength.
As I reflected while writing this, I felt my father’s spirit, and I felt love. As the holidays have come to an end and we near the New Year, grief also visits. We are not strangers, and I embraced the grief and tears, knowing they were also expressions of love.
If you had a heavy heart this Christmas, my hope for you was that your tears brought healing and that you felt renewed. Feel what you need to feel, and let go and embrace the life that awaits.
Yes, Dear Friends,
Even Elephants Cry.