Worry spreads fast, calm takes work

Worry spreads through a group on its own, and fast. Calm spreads too, but slowly, and only when someone keeps working at it.

Picture a Friday queue for koshary in Cairo. Someone near the counter says the small bowls are finished. A minute later the back of the line has heard that the place is running out, and people start counting heads. Nobody passes back the news that the man at the pot is still filling bowls at the same pace.

Fear and anger travel like that everywhere. They need one sentence and a few nervous people.

Trust and quiet satisfaction do not. A satisfied person rarely tells anyone. They simply come back.

So if you want people to feel settled about you, telling them to relax will not work. "Do not worry" shouted into a worried crowd sounds like proof that something is wrong.

Calm passes from person to person by watching. People settle when they see someone steady, doing good work at the same pace, day after day, for long enough to notice. The ones closest settle first. Then the ones watching them.

That takes more patience than most of us plan for. We expect good feelings to travel as fast as bad ones. They do not.

Panic needs one sentence. Calm needs you to keep going.