What smart people say

Today I spoke with someone whom I have known for awhile, a person whose opinion really matters to me. He asked me: Why do you always overreact? My first instinct was to jump at him, to get defensive and say that I wasn't overreacting. Then I realized how right he was. Even there, with that one small question, I was on the verge of overreacting, of snapping at him just because he had an opinion- an opinion that, upon reflection, appeared to be a well-based fact. I searched, racked my brain for a catty reply, but in the silence I could grasp nothing. There I was, shocked into silence by a little truth. Maybe we could all stand a little of this reality stuff.