First-person monologue by a speaker (appears to be James Laughlin) recounting a traumatic hostage experience involving the speaker and two colleagues. The speaker describes gruesome events, being dragged through minefields, emotional reactions (clenching teeth, goosebumps), and frames moments of 'falling apart' as components of resilience while noting dangerous arrogance and persistent waves of emotional response.
I'm feeling anxious because I'm having a conversation with you. Myself and two of my colleagues were taken hostage. A few horrific things unfolded for us in the face of it was gruesome or sad. Sometimes falling apart is actually a component of resilience. We were doing this gesture of decapitation. Eventually you break. We had every reason to anticipate that bad things were going to happen to us. We were dragged through minefields by the hostage takers. I was clinching my teeth as if I wanted to protect my teeth. There is some dangerous arrogance in the mix that is not a worthy challenge for life. Every single one of us has an abundance of this good stuff somewhere. I still get waves of goosebumps when I think about.
