When did you become emotional?

[BackRoad]

Wow...It was the flying monkeys in Oz from so long ago...cured me from ever watching a horror flick since.

For younger me, emotion seemed to be triggered by words...now it seems to be triggered visually, and it's more deeply felt.

A hokey old movie that gets me - every year for the last 60 years - "It's A Wonderful Life". But more so now... I have a cathartic cry seeing George's emotion at the end.

Then there's this..."A Wonderful Life" on steroids. So much story, delivered so quick, and all visual without a word spoken!

Double dare anyone who has ever loved someone to watch it to the end...

 

[steve tym]

Now I have to go home and tell my wife how much I love her. She doesn't hear that enough from me anymore.

 

[Roadworthy]

In my case I think it has to do with major health issues and aging. I was that way after my stroke when talking about going back to work. (I did go back to work as an electrician.) I've heard a heart attack will change people, too.

 

[MossRoad]

I remember the first time I remember becoming emotional and that was in 1957 when I saw the movie Old Yeller. Ever since than I have been careful not to watch a movie where the dog dies. As I got older and tougher I thought I could take anything that life dished out.

About 15 years ago I went to Hawaii and toured Pearl Harbor. While abord the USS Arizona listening to the recording about the bombing of the ship, and seeing the oil still rising from the depths, and the bubbles popping up to the surface, realizing that there were thousands of very young men, just a few feet under me, and turning and seeing other people weeping or barely holding it in, I felt the tears running down my face. I think this is the first time I actually realized what war was like, as we are a country that has never before seen such death since the civil war, and hopefully, never again.

I wonder if many people get as emotional as I did as they age or if I alone in my emotions?

Old Yeller! Should have come with a parental warning.

Births of our children.
Deaths of family and friends.
Kid's momentous moments... graduations, weddings, etc...

And I coached a girls' softball team that one of our daughters was on in grade school. One of her teammates had never played before, but she could catch and throw pretty well. This was 8th grade. So the bases are loaded, no outs. She's playing third base. Batter hits a liner right at her, she stabs it out of the air right above her head. Out 1. She steps on 3rd base without even thinking and the runner had taken off early, so... Out 2. She looks to her left and the runner that was on 2nd was running right at her, realized her mistake, and turned to go back to 2nd, but our 3rd baseman ran her down and put the tag on her before she got back to 2nd. Out 3.... UNASSISTED TRIPLE PLAY!!! By a kid that never played before that year.

Now the reason I got emotional is because her father was a South Bend police officer who was murdered in the line of duty when she was just 2 months old. (suspect caught and convicted). She was now 13 or 14 years old, and I just wish he could have been there to see it. I'm sure if there's a heaven, he was looking down and smiling! I got to see my girls grow up. And that kinda chokes one up to think about folks that didn't have that opportunity. Not just first responders and service members, but any parent whose life is cut short.

On the bright side, her mom saw it! Every adult in the bleachers saw it! And as soon as she made the 3rd out, she threw the ball to the pitcher and trotted back to 3rd base not realizing what she had just done... the holy grail of baseball/softball plays. Her team sure knew what she did... they all ran up and carried her off the field.

 

[MossRoad]

And forgot to mention, as the OP mentioned, I got pretty somber at Pearl Harbor and the Arizona monument as well. My father was in the Pacific during WWII and survived. Many did not.

 

[dmccarty]

...

And I coached a girls' softball team that one of our daughters was on in grade school. One of her teammates had never played before, but she could catch and throw pretty well. This was 8th grade. So the bases are loaded, no outs. She's playing third base. Batter hits a liner right at her, she stabs it out of the air right above her head. Out 1. She steps on 3rd base without even thinking and the runner had taken off early, so... Out 2. She looks to her left and the runner that was on 2nd was running right at her, realized her mistake, and turned to go back to 2nd, but our 3rd baseman ran her down and put the tag on her before she got back to 2nd. Out 3.... UNASSISTED TRIPLE PLAY!!! By a kid that never played before that year.

Now the reason I got emotional is because her father was a South Bend police officer who was murdered in the line of duty when she was just 2 months old. (suspect caught and convicted). She was now 13 or 14 years old, and I just wish he could have been there to see it. I'm sure if there's a heaven, he was looking down and smiling! I got to see my girls grow up. And that kinda chokes one up to think about folks that didn't have that opportunity. Not just first responders and service members, but any parent whose life is cut short.

On the bright side, her mom saw it! Every adult in the bleachers saw it! And as soon as she made the 3rd out, she threw the ball to the pitcher and trotted back to 3rd base not realizing what she had just done... the holy grail of baseball/softball plays. Her team sure knew what she did... they all ran up and carried her off the field.

To reuse Hermine's line in Harry Potter, if that story does not get to you...

"...you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon..."

 

[MossRoad]

To reuse Hermine's line in Harry Potter, if that story does not get to you...

"...you’ve got the emotional range of a teaspoon..."

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Right after the Murrah bombing, in 1995, the state bought the old Bell Telephone building, just two buildings to the North. They moved the newly formed DEQ into it; I could look out the South window and see the bomb site. One day I decided to walk down town for lunch; when I walked past the fence with all the flowers, notes, pictures, stuffed animals, I really choked up; and yes, there were tears.

I could never walk past that fence ever again; I always walked down the other side of the street and looked straight ahead. I had been in the building a short time before, and knew some who were injured in the blast. My daughter lost a school mate, and I believe her (unborn) daughter also. It's still hard to think about.
My office was about 2 miles North when the blast went off; it rattled the windows. I was in OKC when they did the sonic boom tests, and that's what I thought it was. There were TV camera crews down town when the blast went off, so it was on TV in just a few minutes.

 

[MH8675309]

I remember the first time I remember becoming emotional and that was in 1957 when I saw the movie Old Yeller. Ever since than I have been careful not to watch a movie where the dog dies. As I got older and tougher I thought I could take anything that life dished out.

About 15 years ago I went to Hawaii and toured Pearl Harbor. While abord the USS Arizona listening to the recording about the bombing of the ship, and seeing the oil still rising from the depths, and the bubbles popping up to the surface, realizing that there were thousands of very young men, just a few feet under me, and turning and seeing other people weeping or barely holding it in, I felt the tears running down my face. I think this is the first time I actually realized what war was like, as we are a country that has never before seen such death since the civil war, and hopefully, never again.

I wonder if many people get as emotional as I did as they age or if I alone in my emotions?

A sign of wisdom and maturity

 

[BackRoad]

Right after the Murrah bombing, in 1995, the state bought the old Bell Telephone building, just two buildings to the North. They moved the newly formed DEQ into it; I could look out the South window and see the bomb site. One day I decided to walk down town for lunch; when I walked past the fence with all the flowers, notes, pictures, stuffed animals, I really choked up; and yes, there were tears...

I was working for AA in their Tulsa Network Operations Center with big projection screen TVs - always on CNN and always on mute - for breaking news that might have impact on AA.

The day Murrah in OKC was bombed everybody stopped working to watch...and the volume was turned up. Though 100 miles away, it happened too close to home. It was the end of innocence.
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By 9/11, I had left AA and was Operations Manager for a commercial hosting data center near the Meadowlands in NJ. We had a peer team working from a network operations center on the 9th floor in one of the WTC buildings, and people in meetings on the 103rd. We lost 2 colleagues that day. It was a time I hope never gets repeated.
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Though 30 years ago, the Murrah event mentioned by Mr. 2LaneCruzer, seems to have been the start of increased civil disruption that hasn't stopped.

I never realized till writing this post...I think Americans are now tired and weary from human induced chaos...!