Many times in life - we are just "not in a good mood" or "Feeling blue" or "down". People take this as an excuse not to be friendly or kind to others. We have to remember that we all have the capacity to "turn it on" when we want [unless we suffer from a chemical imbalance which at times make it virtually impossible. But I am talking about normative cases]. Here is a my-seh about someone who, while not being a role model for us by any stretch of the imagination, was able to change his mood when the situation demanded it [the story is true besides some of the comments I interjected to make things interesting]:
One day former President William Jefferson Clinton was giving a deposition, answering questions under oath for several hours about certain intimate and embarrassing matters [ostensibly that he had missed קריאת שמע בזמן and to make things worse he had a safek if he had said Birkas Hatorah that day!!]. He was in a foul mood [think of how Hillary felt]. He was drained and angry [so was Monica and she never recovered]. He was not fit for company [how can one be fit for company if he has a safek if he said Birkas Hatorah?? Should he talk Torah or not??]. There was only one problem. He was scheduled to be the speaker at some event that very night. His aide in the Presidential limousine calls a person at the event and says let’s reschedule. The President cannot speak tonight. The person at the event says: we can’t reschedule. There are thousands of people here, and they are expecting to see the President. He has to show up. [If he doesn't - they will vote for Trump when he runs against Hillary in 2016. The President said "Then I'm DEFINITELY not coming"].
So they go to the event, and this aide wonders: how is this going to play out? The President is drained and angry. How is going to summon energy to speak to thousands of people? And then he describes what happened. The President gets on stage, the crowd is very large, very warm, very supportive. They cheer for the President [not knowing about his faux pas with שמע and Birkas Hatorah]. And the President’s color comes back to his face, his anger begins to dissipate, his charm game comes back, and, feeding off the energy of the crowd, he gives an energetic speech that wows the crowd. [He will later take 250k for such speeches]
President Clinton in the limousine was drained and angry, but the crowd brought him back. He became a different self.
You too can change your mood even without the help of a crowd.
You too can change your mood even without the help of a crowd.
