As a teenager. I was once kept hostage by terrorists, members of a militant group. It was completely unexpected at a place that felt "safe", I just happened to be at the MAYBE wrong place at the wrong time. It took some time while they were threatening us, keeping us in check. We were a group of people that never met before nor after. Before this event, the only thing that connected us was that we found ourselves together at that moment in the same place. We looked at each other completely unprepared, unsure of how to react. The lady next to me began to panic, she was drenched in sweat, she began to sob, the tension grew. It was a kind of terror I never experienced in my life before. I could NOT think. I found myself in a situation that I cannot describe. The tension grew. It was a bodily sensation, something animal, primal that my human mind could not grasp. I held on for a while, I don't know how long, because at some point the time didn't exist anymore. Suddenly, for no apparent reason or change in the terrifying situation, something inside me broke. Either that I couldn't take it anymore, or that it was something much bigger, outside of me. I suddenly erupted into a loud laughter. It was a cosmic laugher, not my little good-natured laugh. It was as if some kind of light appeared, which spoke to me about something much bigger, about human existence, which despite all the horrors, is inherently something very joyful. As if, perhaps in the premonition that this was my last moment in life, I could reconnect with it. What happened next? The terrorists got completely baffled they became completely confused, frightened, picked themselves up in an instant and ran away, perhaps thinking that I might have a backup plan or something like that. That one primal laugh can dispel so much accumulated fear, threats and terror. It was a discovery for me that I carry with me throughout my life. I cherish it in the hope that I will be able to leave this world with such primal joy and trust into this infinite within me.