Take care of those moods

Emotions and thoughts go hand and hand; they both stem from one's brain.  In effect, they affect eachother.  Epictetus, a Greek philosopher once said, "Men are not worried by things, but by their ideas about things. When we meet difficulties, become anxious or troubled, let us not blame others, but rather ourselves, that is: our idea about things."  David Foster Wallace provides a perfect example of this in his speech, "This is Water", with a short anecdote about a typical trip to the grocery store.  While human beings can encounter some truly troubling obstacles, we often over-exaggerate their severity.  Humans tend to focus on negative thoughts, as well as pity themselves unnecessarily.  Most likely, your individual problem is infinitesimal in comparison to some more pressing issues around the world.  I, personally, try to always put everything in perspective.  If I forgot to bring my cell phone to school, I remind myself that if I really need to contact someone, I could borrow someone else's phone.  Although at the moment I feel extremely vulnerable, I step back and look at the big picture: life goes on.
Sometimes one's mood can be difficult to control, so I've compiled a list of things that I find help me.

• Get enough sleep-  This one is pretty difficult to attain with busy high-school schedules and all the homework assigned, but after a proper eight-or-more hours of sleep, I awake feeling refreshed.  Sleep has been proven to improve one's ability to process information both quickly and thoroughly, so one is less likely to jump to conclusions about that mother in the restaurant who continues to let her baby cry.
• Avoid negative people-  Being creatures that seek approval, humans are often quick to agree with those we are around.  Spending time around negative people can sometimes transfer their nagging and complaining to you.
• Stay organized-  Your surroundings can largely impact your thinking.  Having clothes and papers strewn all over my floor will usually increase my stress level.  (As a side note: Feng Shui states that the following can affect one's mood: colors, furniture and decor, photos, lighting, sound/silence, and scent.)
• Take care of yourself-  This is arguably the most important.  Eating healthy and exercising regularly can help clear the mind and relieve stress.  So take a break from studying for that big test and run a mile or two around the neighborhood!

The glass ceiling

Think of any television show of the 1950s or 1960s that involved a family.  How was each family member portrayed?  The children would often leave the house to go play outdoors, while the father would leave for work.  What about the mother?  Did she have a job to help the family?  Would she spend her days with friends attending meetings or clubs?  Most of the time, the mother would sit at home making meals or doing housework.  During the time period, women were expected to do nothing more or less.  This inequality among sexes may not be as extreme in the present day, but it is definitely still present.
The inequality was first addressed on a large scale at the First Women's Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848.  Elizabeth Stanton delivered a speech entitled "Declaration of Sentiments", which addressed the feelings of oppression women felt by men in society.  By utilizing a format similar to the Declaration of Independence, Stanton was able to convey a message of the feeling of restriction similar to that that the colonists felt as they were under the power of Great Britain.  Stanton's bluntness was criticized, but her argument held a truth that was never before acknowledged.
In the present day, women are not looked upon as equal to men.  Take, for example, the amount of time and money women spend of beauty products like makeup.  Men are not expected to look flawless every day, and don't need to as society places more value on a man's internal characteristics.  Women are still viewed as objects, and external appearance matters just as much, if not more, than personality.  In the workplace, women do not often hold management positions.  According to the Center for American Progress, about 47 percent of the workforce in the United States is composed of women, yet 3.6 percent of the CEOs in America are women.  Although women are just as capable as men of operating a company, it is this preconceived notion of the insignificance of women that hold them back from achieving the greatness they embody.

Integrity lacks lies

Protagonist John Proctor's affair with Abigail is relatable to the plot of Easy A.  In the movie Easy A, high school girl Olive Penderghast fabricates intimate affairs to gain attention and popularity for herself and for those whom she was supposedly involved with.  As Olive embraces a scandalous new attitude, she is scorned upon by the conservative students at her school.
John Proctor, on the other hand, actually had an affair, and feels powerful guilt throughout the play.  As his friends and family are accused and persecuted for false crimes, Proctor's integrity is put to the test.  Although Proctor would continue to live a long life if he keeps his secret, he would live with the pain and guilt associated with the betrayal of his wife.  To see so many killed for witch crimes that they did not commit, it forces him to also falsely admit, not only to save a life of one of the accused, but to die with a purified soul.
When Olive realizes that a boy dated her so he could pay her to sleep with him, she decides that the attention she receives at school is not worth the label she is given.  Through her public confession that she did not sleep with anyone, she ultimately hurts both herself and those whom she lied for.  Although she is now known as a liar, she no longer has scandal about her name.
Although John admits his real crime solely to God, both John and Olive ultimately end up absolving themselves.  They take blame for their actions and truly define the importance of integrity.  Although it is sometimes difficult to admit to sins, knowing that the future will bring forgiveness and clarity is worth the struggle.

Mass of children

Thoughts can cycle, change, and develop, but they are still more easily controlled than emotion.  A term used when describing one particular level of control one has over their emotions is hysteria.  An antonym of collectedness, hysteria is defined as "an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality, laughter, weeping, etc.".  Hysteria is often brought about during a time of social or political unrest.  In the previous post, I discuss how human beings are strongly influenced by eachother; when emotional instability is experienced in a community of people, it is called mass hysteria.  In history, mass hysteria was displayed in the Red Scare, a movement during the 1940s to 1950s involving the evaluation for communists among United States employees.  During this time, many were falsely accused at the cost of their jobs as well as their status in society.  

Mass hysteria follows an unspoken outline, which will be applied through the analysis of the Red Scare.  It is spurred by discontent among a group of people who seek something; it could be power, status, money, etc.  Around the time of the Red Scare, the United States dropped a bomb on China, governed by the communist leader Mao Zedong, and joined the Korean War, fighting against the communist North Korea.  Americans felt an urgency to protect themselves from any communists that might intrude the United States.  The hysterics claim that their unjust actions are moral; American political leaders used the excuse of "protecting their citizens" to validate the destroying of the lives of countless, innocent Americans.  By doing so, they were able to gain complete control over one aspect of their duty as leaders as other aspects spiraled out of regimentation.

In short, hysteria is used as a weak excuse to make nefarious and selfish acts appear necessary and completely appropriate.  As a baby will cry when he or she doesn't get a toy, an immature being will employ mass hysteria as an elementary tactic to obtain a desired result.