When People are MEAN!

Multiple Choice Question:
When people are mean your response should be:
a) cuss
b) shake your head in disbelief that someone's mama did such a bad job
c) later think of all the stuff you 'could have' said
d) look at them like they have two heads (and a couple of horns)
e) shame them with a sarcastic "Wow, really?"
f) get so mad that you cry but you don't want them to see you so turn around and walk off
g) tell everyone else how mean they are therefore making yourself a rotten person
h) none of that stuff!
I have a way of dealing with this. I have to practice a little more but it's quite simple really. Are you ready??? "It's not about you" Okay, so you can get your feelings hurt cuz no one likes to encounter mean people; it doesn't feel good. But it should only take you a couple of minutes to realize that you didn't make them mean. Mean people are either mean as a character flaw or they're just having a really bad day and they tend to take it out on other people. Either way, what can you do to control that??? Control what you can control which is your reaction to mean people. Today I encountered a mean person on the highway...incredibly mean. And it wasn't just toward me...for as long as I could see this person speeding away from me he was cutting people off, putting people's lives in danger and generally only thinking of himself. I thought about what might have happened to him today that life was so difficult. Maybe he's having marital issues. Maybe he's grieving for a child. Maybe he's just mean. No matter what it is, I can only pray that tomorrow is a better day for him (and for those of us on the road). The next time you feel offended, try a bit of compassion instead of the automatic offense and anger. It's not always easy because God gave us the emotion of anger. But maybe we can all figure out when is the best time to utilize the emotions rather than just let them shoot out like rubber bands.