For crying out loud: Why it's actually good to shed tears

For crying out loud, it is beautiful

My whole life I have been called sensitive. It was said with a sneer, or a gentle, sympathetic shoulder squeeze, perhaps an affectionate elbowing. In arguments with sisters, and then later boyfriends, I would always cry. 

I was derided for this: I was trying to be manipulative, to win the quarrel by default, to illicit sympathy with this overzealous demonstration of helplessness.