Instant Karma

I am a firm believer in Karma.

I think that what we do on an every day basis, good or bad, reflects on our accomplishments and failures.

However, I also believe in God, or a higher being if you will (whatever you want to call him/her.) And I believe this God has a sense of humor....sometimes a very sick sense of humor.

For instance, I feel like I'm a pretty good person. No. I'm not perfect but I do try to go about life in a manner of "do unto others as they would have done to you." But if you really sit down and think about this statement...I mean really really think, not everyone's perception of what they would do or not do is the same.

For example, when going into a restaurant or a store, I try to always be conscious of people coming in and out and therefore, I often hold the door open and offer them to go on ahead in or out of said building. This is not the case for everyone though. SOME people apparently would love to be run over while trying to leave the restaurant with their hands full and then promptly have someone allow the door to close while you are frantically trying to catch it with your foot, while balancing your food with both hands. Not to mention the fact that some people don't require the use of the words, please, thank you and excuse me.

So having this similar situation presented to me only today, it got me thinking. Did I do something recently that instituted such actions to be made? Am I being punished for something, not even realizing what I have done? Or is it something that goes way back....some random mistake that I'm still serving time for? (If you want to get really deep with this thought, I am suddenly reminded of one of my favorite Indigo Girl songs, Galileo, and the lyric that states "And you had to bring up reincarnation over a couple of beers the other night. And now I'm serving time for mistakes made by another in another lifetime." But the verdict is still not out on whether or not I believe in reincarnation. So that is perhaps another discussion for another time.)

Or is God just up there,looking down at me, having himself/herself a good laugh as I turn around only to walk, smack dab into a tree and one of its branches pokes me in the eye? Hey. It's the challenges in life that make us stronger, right?

But seriously. I do feel that if you perform a bad act, such as killing some one or robbing a bank, you do eventually get what's coming to you. But what if you don't do any of these things?Or what if you do, but you don't get caught?  It brings up that ever so popular question of "why do bad things happen to good people?" It's amazing how we can so quickly judge someone for doing something bad and then when something bad happens to them, it's not a surprise because we already have the answer as to why this bad thing, whatever it is, happened to them. When something bad happens to someone good, we are only left with the question of why?

The truth is, we really don't know why anything good or bad happens to any of us. It's all based on faith and what we believe or don't believe. But no matter how you look at it, you're looking at it blindly because no one truly knows ANY of this.

But our beliefs and our faith are what get most of us through life just a little less painfully. And this is why I go about life in a manner that makes me strive to be just a little bit better. A little more kind. A little more strong when someone I love is in pain. A little more positive when someone else can't quite see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I'm grateful to say that I have so many people in my life who are there to do the same for me.

So there you have it folks.You can call it whatever you see fit. I think I'm with the Beatles though because no matter what you do, good or bad, "instant karma is going to get you", whether you believe in it or not. We might not understand it and we might often find ourselves asking each other "why?" But I guess that's just the mystery of life....For whatever reason, I guess we just aren't supposed to know all of the answers. I think that's why most of us hold on to something opposed to nothing.