Disrespect

Disrespect inspires passion and violence disproportionate to the apparent harm caused by the gesture itself. It began when Yawheh allegedly disrespected Cain’s offering “from the fruit of the soil” by favoring Abel’s sacrifice from his flock. Cain killed Abel for causing the disrespect. In 2011, Melvin Baker and Anthony Moore approached Gregory McFadden on a Baltimore street. Baker’s brother had a girlfriend McFadden flirted with a few weeks earlier and Baker wanted a word with him. But McFadden turned his back and walked away. Baker and Moore felt disrespected. Instead of cursing, threatening, or punching him, they gunned McFadden down with 18 of 26 bullets hitting their mark. I have dabbled in the seven deadly sins of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth. Wrath seems to be the deadliest one but many are interconnected. Competitive Eaters can become excessively proud of winning Gluttony Contests. Pride can cause wrath but so can lack of pride. My shameful pride is just thinking I am better than everyone else. But murder only makes sense for potential profit like money (greed) or food (gluttony). Baker and Moore merely qualified for life sentences and a mail order certificate of respect. At least Cain was trying to upgrade his offering from fruit to human after Abel got credit for killing a sheep. Unfortunately Cain wiped out the wrong line of human descent. I am still haunted by the celebrated ex-con writer with two lady friends who gunned down a New York bartender because he felt disrespected when denied use of a restroom. Apparently this type of murder never goes out of style. I was not a big fan of Rodney Dangerfield but at least he had a better approach and knew how to make a living out of being disrespected.