Right on the money, Helen and Jeri. And I don't think it's human nature. I think people are generally better than that. It's just that we tend to remember very clearly the ones who've tried to hurt us. It's a self-protective mechanism because we try not to get hurt again. (IMO)

But whenever I have encountered nasty, obnoxious people who say hurtful things, yeah, it hurts for a moment and then I consider the source. You should not feel bad about yourself or angry at the person (although that's the knee-jerk response) but consider how unhappy they must be in order to purposely try to inflict pain on another. They will NEVER admit this but obviously, they feel hurt or angry or whatever, at their own lives, their own selves and they take it out on whoever happens by. It has NOTHING to do with you and everything to do with THEM. The ironic thing is, and the thing they don't understand, is that hurting other people ultimately hurts them even more. If you change your emotion from either hurt or anger to pity, it is much easier to deal with these sadists. They are miserable. And there's a nice amount of poetic justice in that.