People speak as a means of communicating. There are 6,912 languages spoken throughout the world. Language is defined as “communication by voice in the distinctively human manner, using arbitrary sounds in conventional ways with conventional meanings”. You may speak one or two languages fluently, however, unknowingly, every citizen in the world shares a universal form of communication. (I’ll give you the definition first and see if you can get it) “An expression or appearance of merriment or amusement”… get it yet? It’s laughter.

Now, you may think that I am limiting this form of communication to humans, but, by universal I mean animals as well. We all know that animals communicate, but laugh? Animals have shown signs of laughter in response to playful chasing, games and tickling. Different species express laughter in different ways. For example, anyone who has been to a zoo and witnessed a monkey play with himself has probably seen him laugh as well. Laughter has also been observed in other animals, such as dogs and rats. When stimulated by tickling or play fighting, rats emitted short, high frequency, ultrasonic, socially induced vocalizations. Scientists have monitored canine responses to various laughter evoking stimuli. Although the sounds dogs made in these experiments initially resembled an ordinary pant, scientists found upon further analysis that there are bursts of frequencies in this type of panting, showing us that dogs do laugh. Now for the phenomenal part - when scientists played a recording of a dog's laughter in an animal shelter, it stimulated playful activity and decreased the animals’ stress levels. So, I have to ask; Is laughter contagious?

It is a fact that we are all connected through the action of laughter, although we rarely take time out of our stressful days to think about it. I, fortunately, woke up today in a fairly decent mood, so the world will not end (I’m not really sure what you are trying to get across with this sentence, it seems out of place). In addition to technology, civilization, and some primitive behaviors (which I have discussed in History of Aggression, laughter binds our world. However, until today, I never gave consideration to the link we share through this amiable gesture.

Think about this. How many languages do you hear in a day? How many times do you hear an accent in someone’s speech patterns? How much of a difference is there when you hear those people laugh? Laughs can vary between a boisterous “Ho” and an innocent “teehee”. However, the expression a laugh implies is universal. Laughter means a person is having a good time, or just generally enjoying himself. There are undoubtedly other signs of “peace”, such as smiles, handshakes, and even hugs. But the universal vocal expression of that peace is a laugh.