R E S P E C T

Have you ever heard of a yogurt chain called "Pinkberry"?
Neither have I, but it seems they are all over the place out on the West Coast.  We have a few of those places in our malls, similar shops where people see the word "yogurt" and think "healthy!" when they should think, "It's got guar gum, maltodextrin, sodium citrate, cellulose gum, disodium phosphate and propylene glycol monoesters," which are chemicals found in many popular frozen yogurts. Some froyo is thickened with carrageenan, a goo made of red seaweed. It's a colloidal substance that, according to Dr Andrew Weil, is not very good for you.

Well, this is not a health blog and I wouldn't worry about eating frozen yogurt, unless it's all you eat.  Even the gummy worms, Fruity Pebbles, Rainbow Sno-Caps, Heath Bar chunks, Caramel Turtles, Cheesecake chunks and M&Ms that people pile on before heading for the cash register to pay $11.83 for a chilly snack aren't all that bad in moderation.

Let's say your name is Young Lee, you're 49, and you founded the Pinkberry chain in 2005 with your now-ex-wife.  But in the summer of 2011, a year or so after you cashed out and left the everyday world of "yogurterias," as they call them, you were coming home from someplace with your fiancee when a homeless man approached your car and showed you his tattoo, which depicts two stick figures having sex.

Are you still with me here?

So, Mr Lee, according to the homeless man, Donald Bolding, the police, the District Attorney and the judge who found you guilty last Friday, you became incensed with the display of the tattoo, so you got out of the car, chased and caught Mr Bolding and then took a tire iron and gave him a savage beating.

And then you took off for Korea, only to be arrested in 2012 when you returned to Los Angeles, and remained free on bail until your trial concluded with you being led off in irons.

This is a nightmare all around, and when we break it all down, it's another of those stupid incidents that resulted because of a perceived lack of respect.  Lee told others that when Bolding showed his tattoo to the couple, that constituted disrespect, so that called for a beatdown.

Here in Baltimore, a guy shot another guy the other night because guy #2 had talked to #1's girlfriend.  Talked to her.

Maybe it would be a good idea to respect ourselves a little bit more and not worry so much about how much respect others show us.  After all, what others think of us is really none of our business.

Mr Lee is in custody, awaiting sentencing in January.

I can respect that.