Daily Lessons from Life 22 September 2014 - Killed for being disrespectul?

Former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew receives Global Citizen Award from US think-tank - The US think-tank, Atlantic Council, has conferred on Singapore's former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew the Global Citizen Award in recognition of his achievements as one of the world's foremost statesmen.

Congratulation to Mr Lee. Not that he needs further endorsement from the West, and especially the Americans.

"Read on the PRC Chinese media: A family of 3 were killed by a bicycle repairman after he was berated first by the young lady who drove the BMW 'allegedly scratched' by him, assaulted by the young lady's father and verbal abuses by the young lady's mother, plus a demand for RMB3k for the 'damage' caused!"

It attracted a fury of debates and shooting off of opinions in the Chinese cyberspace. Some said the 3 killed deserved it while some said the 'killer' was simply too cruel and 'petty' (?)!

Lessons for me are:

1. in hindsight, was it worth it? To mercilessly berate the obviously poor bicycle repairman. Assaulted him and scolding him with very disrespectful language (purportedly reported widely) for a 'scratch' on a material possession called 'motor vehicle' to the point of triggering an uncontrolled rage to kill?  The answer is obviously: 'No.'!!;

2. is the accusation that the 'killer' was cruel and had gone way overboard to kill the 3 in cold blood fair? While I am no psychologist or homicide investigator, it is quite conceivable that the 'killer' did not start out with the intention to kill. He was supposedly taking all the abuses and took a few blows that injured him without reacting overly aggressively. The abuses did not stop despite many bystanders and on-lookers trying to make peace. It is quite clearly a case of grave provocation to the point of 'uncontrolled rage' with no room for rational behaviours!;

3. the outcome was totally tragic and sad! 3 lives were lost and the 'killer' will probably be given a death penalty or life imprisonment for murder or culpable homicide. ALL for the 'scratch' on a BMW car!! Of course, if the description of the behaviours of the 3 dead were accurate, it goes deeper into what could have caused the 3 dead to feel so strong about 'getting a fair compensation from the poor bicycle repairman' to the point of abusing and assaulting him? It this 'hitting back by the oppressed' that I read about as a young boy from the many 'uprising by the oppressed and poor' who were pushed to their limit before retaliating with tons of hatred and vengeance?

It this what this is about? Are these behaviours and responses just lurking in the majority of this big nation's populace? I hope not. Otherwise, it can be fatally explosive!