Log in to become a member of Missing Link's Fan Club!
Have you ever witnessed karma in action? Have you ever witnessed the result of poor decision-making? I saw it the other day as I was riding down a boulevard in the bike lane. I saw a young lady riding a bike in the same direction I was riding on the street, but she was on the sidewalk. I am not a fan of people in riding bikes on the sidewalks, I can understand kids, but adults should know better. I think it is rude to people walking as well as to those who are emerging from their homes. I think there should be bike traffic cops who give tickets to the imbeciles on bikes who ride down sidewalks with disregard to their fellow man. It irritates me.
So I am riding along and this young woman rides to an intersection of streets, at the corner of a building, and as she does she is hit, gently, by another young woman on another bicycle who is also riding on the sidewalk and across her path. They collided without great violence involved and the one I was following tipped over into the bushes around a large sycamore tree. I was ecstatic.
Both women got up and dusted themselves off and again rode off down the sidewalk. Karma had enforced its will but the riders had not learned a damned thing. I was less impressed with karma than I was before I witnessed it enforced.
I wonder what karma has in store for the US government after eight years of mismanagement, of outright adventurism, of outright capitalist greed, of outright denial of the reality of the suffering environment. I wonder if karma has no more impact than to knock us gently into the shrubs and allow us to brush ourselves off. I wonder if we are going to be given the equivalent of a karmic "get out of jail free" pass with respect to many of the world's problems that we are directly involved in creating.
In church this morning there was a pastor who described for us his family's history of hiking to the top of half dome on significant birthdays where they would do a head stand. His father did it when he was 70, his brother when he was 50, and this pastor when he was 75. Simply climbing up to the top of half dome is an impressive feat, having the strength to do a headstand after the hiking is even more impressive. I wondered about this man, and his faith and his connection to family, and karma – which this man would not believe in at all.
The man had lived a good life. He had raised a family, been a pastor, and established a successful faith-based university. He could look at his life and honestly say that he had done well.
I spent the weekend with a family that could make similar claims with some significant differences. The parents were married for many years and never divorced – an impressive feat of commitment today. Their two children were college graduates, one a research scientist and the other training to be a doctor of some specialty. Their family unit is strong and yet I wondered at their lack of spiritual depth. The daughter comically expressed her ignorance of the Lord's Prayer while we were playing a game one night.
The Lord's Prayer contains some of the most fundamental human truths we need to live a healthy life. Even non-Christians would probably have to admit that it is perhaps the most complete model of prayer ever known. What is the benefit to a child not to know this prayer? I wondered about this as this research scientist giggled at her own ignorance.
"Our Father, which art in Heaven"
"Hallowed be thy Name"
"Thy kingdom come"
"Thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven"
"Give us this day our daily bread"
"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us"
"And lead us not into temptation"
"But deliver us from evil"
"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen "
This simple prayer supplies so much wisdom to live by and its words are such powerful insurance against karma. It is protection against the destruction of sin; sin that includes pride, judgment, greed, lust, self-importance, and all other human weaknesses. The prayer is recognition that God is bigger and more important and more powerful than ourselves. I wonder at the ignorance at placing oneself above the power of God. I understand the lack of wisdom in leaving children in a moral vacuum.
I really like the people I was with last weekend. I've known them for years; they are intelligent, wonderful people. I just wonder how much their souls are thirsting for truth and how much energy it takes to suppress that desire. I wondered what they do believe, and how they act on that belief. We never got there. We simply didn't have enough time and I lacked the wisdom to find the shortcuts.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
