When people became emotionally agitated, their hearts began to beat faster.
An accelerated heartbeat brought a feeling akin to mild panic. They could sense the power of it, as well as their own insignificance.
That feeling was addictive, but it was also easy to overcome.
A fifteen-year-old boy who had joined the protest march stared blankly at the suddenly unruly crowd. When violence erupted, he did not even have time to react!
Amid the crush of the crowd, several people pushed him into a roadside store.
He stared blankly at the people around him, who were snatching the clothes hanging from the racks. He watched as several strong men brutally beat the shopkeeper, and as the people destroyed everything they could destroy and looted everything they could loot.
His heart suddenly began to race! For several seconds, he hesitated, confused and uncertain, before awakening to the situation. Then he joined the ranks of the looters!
Someone slammed the cash register onto the floor. A burly man snatched away the paper bills, leaving a few coins scattered on the ground. No one bothered to pick them up.
He bent down and picked up the coins, stuffing them into his pocket. Then he grabbed some clothes that others had dropped on the ground. With his heart pounding faster and faster, his face flushed, he ran out of the store! His heartbeat grew faster and faster, until it reached the point where he felt he might drop dead from cardiac arrest! What made his heart race was the pile of clothes in his arms and the coins in his pocket, which totaled roughly seven or eight dollars.
That was what it meant to obtain something without working for it! Guilt, tension, and fear all converged, accompanied by an accelerated heartbeat.
At first, it