When one lashes out, they are in pain.  Do not take it personally.  They are projecting their pain, because it is too difficult to bear it alone.  Remember this, please, when someone says something that you perceive as rude, caustic, spiteful, and hurtful.  Do you want to add to their pain?  Lash back.  Yes, there are some who enjoy a “good fight.”  Yet again, do you want to feed that?  Be the presence of peace.  This takes a level of awareness beyond the normal human level, and that is the whole point:  There is something beyond the human level.  Do you wish to find peace, then you must find this level.  The one who is lashing out has temporarily lost it—a phrase with multiple levels of meaning.  Perhaps, by example, you will help them find it, but not by lowering yourself to their level.  You are all so very loved, and love and peace go hand in hand.