To be. 

Or, not to be. 

That is always the question, is it not?  To be rude to a fellow human being—inexcusable, in my opinion.  The following is a true story which included myself and some girl by the name of Shanika: 

I saw that I had received a missed call on my cell.  So, being the curious mortal that I am, I called the 202 number back.  A girl picks up the phone.  Our short-lived conversation went as follows:

Me:  "Hi, my name is Susan, and I received a call from this number."

Me:  "Is your number 202-356..."

Me:  (Susan stunned by Shanika's stun gun response.)  "click."

The following true story makes me feel a little low in my spirits.  Sad in my heart.  It also makes me enraged in a way that someone (Miss Shanika) could be so rude to another person (me!) without being put in her place.  After I pressed the END button as she spewed her last few words, I wished I hadn't hung up so soon so I could tell her how stupid she was for being so rude for no apparent reason to someone she didn't even know.  This may sound really dumb, but for a minute I began thinking of ways to get back at this girl.  It was like a green mean-ness cloud had settled over my head. 

Until, I came to my senses and felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit...  I realized that this is exactly the response Satan hoped for.  Hate for hate.  I knew I couldn't do it.  I knew I couldn't respond in the same way, no matter how insulted, how furious, or how combative I felt.  I don't consider myself a mean person by nature, but what came out of my heart was evidence of my passivity to live out the call.  Instead of feeling annoyed and defensive and in the right, there should have been intense love.  Lord give me grace to show love, to show mercy to those who lack it.  

Lessons Learned:  1) Never call someone back if they don't leave a message!  Curiosity almost always kills cats.  2) If your curiosity finally does get the best of you, make sure you call the correct number back.  This is really important.