React or Respond?
A while ago, my mom was in the hospital. While there she was given an antibiotic that did not work well. The doctors changed the antibiotic type and things improved vastly. In this instance, you could say that mom "reacted" to the first medication but "responded" to the second.
Likewise, when circumstances in life arise we can choose to react or to respond to them. When we are treated poorly we tend to react harshly, but our harsh reaction rarely solves the issue and often makes things worse. We can, however choose to respond and try to peacefully, productively resolve the situation.
Steven Covey, author of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" put it like this, "Seek first to understand and then to be understood." Try to understand the underlying causes of the other persons harshness before reacting. This will require asking some good, tactful questions. There is always a reason why people do what they do. Once we understand, we can state our case to be understood.
Tom Magee