Woman who allegedly shot ‘disrespectful’ Red Line passenger gets 4 years

I have long called that “Default Respect”.

There is a line by Robert Duvall’s character in the movie “Open Range” that I really like:

“Good health to them that has it comin’...”

I believe in giving people respect in life on the basis of their station, experiences or rank. I grew up in military family, and we were taught to address men as “Sir” and women as “Ma’am”, and responding had to say “Yes Sir” or “Yes Ma’am”. I understood the concept of rank and chain of command.

The point is, if you meet a military person, you give them respect BECAUSE they are in the military. If you meet an elderly person, you give them respect BECAUSE they have lived a lot longer than you have. If you meet someone who has lost a loved one, you treat them with respect and deference BECAUSE they have suffered. All this is done without a single qualifying action on the part of the person. They don’t, and shouldn’t ASK for your respect and deference, the right thing, in the abscence of ANY other qualifying factor, is to grant them special treatment by default.

I call this concept “Default Respect”. Treat everyone with respect, unless their actions nullify that.

If people show, through their words and deeds, that they are not worthy of that default respect, there is NO reason whatsoever to grant that to them, in my opinion.

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