"Sometimes emotion-sharing leads to emotional contagion, when the experience of the same emotion rapidly spread from one person to others."

This particular line made me recall a memory from when I was twelve and visiting an amusement park in Ohio. We had been standing in line for at least an hour to ride the newest attraction. Hoards of seasonal bugs pestered us, and there was no relief from the sunlight as we stood in line like herded cows. It was in this event that I could visibly see how emotions were shared and spread between people. At the beginning of the line, the people who were the closest to the ride suddenly started talking to each other in a frenzy, when they had been ignoring each other previously. The people behind them started talking, then the people behind them, and then, before I knew it, the message had reached my section of the line.

"The ride has been shut down, we can either keep waiting until it opens again or leave."

It was amazing to me that even though seconds earlier we had just been bored and sweaty, we were now angry because of a common event. In some ways, it felt like we had all become one person, because we were all feeling the same emotion. This sense of unity, no matter what the cause, is amazing. The fact that we can communicate with each other and not only understand it, but mimic it as well, is crazy!

It makes me think about how my emotions affect other people, and has also made me realize that I should try to express my positive emotions more. Who knows how many people are being hurt by the negative ones?