Recently I was teaching a dance class, and one of the students was apparently too sick to dance. She was sitting in a chair on the side, huddled in a blanket, looking like an old woman, even though she´s in her 20´s probably. At one point, she got up and moved position, but she looked so incredibly and exaggeratedly ill when she did this, that I couldn´t help myself; I burst out laughing, right then and there! Kind of bad when the teacher can´t hold it in, and laughs out loud for the whole class to see. I had the feeling, at the time, that she was faking and making a big show of it, because it seemed so dramatically done. I just found that hysterically funny. However, in retrospect, I realize I am often bad at second guessing people and figuring out their feelings or intentions, so maybe I was wrong?
I found out the other day that she is now leaving the school because she doesn´t feel comfortable there. I have a horrible guilty feeling that it may be because of my laughing that day. Though, I don´t know for sure. I probably should have told her to disregard all I say and do, and not take it personally.....
Anyway, I think there is some evidence that many people laugh when stressed or shocked. I have also seen some NTs do this, so it may be more common than we realize.
And as for 9/11, no, I did not laugh at that. But I also didn´t feel the huge emotion that most people felt. Instead, I was totally numb about the whole thing. I guess I was in sock, so it felt like I had no emotion. It did become my special interest for awhile though, I studied it because I felt like I just needed to understand it.
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"death is the road to awe"