Day #2: People Who Believe in Karma

                        

I don’t believe in karma. I never have, and frankly, I doubt that I ever will. My friend Ty will tell you that karma exists, and that it affects our lives on a daily basis. According to people who are Buddhists or Hindus, Karma is the total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny. In simpler terms, if you do something bad, something bad will happen to you. Long ago, this meant that if you lie, cheat, and steal during your lifetime, you will be re-born as a goat in Darfur. Alternatively, if you are kind and generous, you might be reincarnated as a wealthy prince. Nowadays, if someone were to mention karma, the first thing to come to mind would most likely be on a smaller scale. For example, if you acted like a complete jerk to all your friends, your girlfriend is going to end up breaking up with you. People like Ty would argue that karma controls all of our lives, and that free will isn’t a factor in the grand scheme of the universe.

As I said earlier, I believe that karma is non-existent. People can waste their entire lives by assigning the blame for the misfortunes that befall them elsewhere. If I was to trip while walking down the hallway, I could view it as punishment for yelling at my brother, but that wouldn’t get me anywhere. Instead of eagerly looking for reasons not to accept accountability for my own bad luck, I could pay more attention to where I’m walking. Let’s face it, bad things WILL happen to you, and it is always easy to transfer the responsibility of coping with your decisions.  Any bad situation that occurs in life could be seen as an instance for fretting about the past, or as an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and prepare yourself for the future.