One of my favorite cartoons is the Roadrunner. Wile E. Coyote is forever chasing Roadrunner who outsmarts Wile E. every episode. I wonder if Wile E. would know what to do if he ever caught him. Wile E. fumes with anger and Roadrunner always smiles and Beep-Beeps as he speeds away. Roadrunner clearly knows how to push the coyote’s hot buttons.

My hot buttons got bumped yesterday. It takes more than an irritation to get me riled up, and yesterday it happened. I was madder than hops. That saying literally means you’re so mad you’re ready to hop on someone and knock them from here to tomorrow. I was ready.

Like Wile E. Coyote, I’m not sure what I would have done if I’d gotten my hands on my anger source, but I’m certain it would have been ugly. I know anger’s foundation is built with unmet expectations, but good grief, is it too much to expect people to be honest and somewhat nice? When people are mean and mistreat others it makes me want to say things that aren’t lady-like.

Mom used to say, “When someone acts like a fool, don’t lower yourself to his level to respond.” That hit me about noon. I wished I would have remembered it earlier in the day and I wouldn’t have wasted time visualizing how I would present my shame-on-you speech. In the end, the anger causer would drop his head and apologize profusely promising to never behave that way ever again. It was a good visual, though, like the happily ever after part of a movie.

Honestly, what good would have confrontation done? None. So, I listened to my mother’s words of wisdom and hit reset. By 3:00 I had let it slide and got back to the rest of my day. At least I have my madder-than-hops script rehearsed if I ever need it.