A strange phenomenon occurs around the word “tear.” It is in a constant crisis of ambiguity, holding two meanings with nothing but context to lend it identity. Even now you cannot know how I mean to reference it. There is an old test meant to tell whether your heart is a violent or an emotional one based on your initial interpretation of the word “tear.” But, my immediate reading changes with my heart-stance. Maybe I was more violent at seventeen than I am emotional now. Maybe the test is crap. Yesterday it said “tear” and the day before it said the other “tear.” In life, tears often lead to tears whichever way you want to read it. Maybe violent hearts and emotional hearts are the opposing sides of one coin defined by a word with a double meaning. Maybe it's a metaphor; passion switches from the one to the other in half the blink of an eye. Paradox deepens a flat world. “Tear” has a rough life; I feel for the little word. Today it reads both at once. “Tear” must be tired. It should take a nap. And a shot.