Karma, or A Universal Re-balance

I believe in Karma. I don’t mean the typical Karma that most people interpret as past deeds following us from one reincarnated life to another until we finally get it right. My understanding of karma is simply that if I do good things then good things will come my way. It’s more of a re-balancing of the universe than a reward-punishment system. I am also not naïve enough to believe that good deeds and a positive attitude will keep bad things from happening to us. The randomness of the universe precludes that type of certainty, but from what I have observed in life good things do seem to follow those who are good.

My first experience with this idea took place while I was in high school. In tenth grade English class we were learning how to properly build a research project and write a paper about the research. Things started well for me with as I narrowed my research question, and began conducting research. The highlight was an interview I conducted with a health care worker to get facts and opinions about my topic: Should radiation be used in medical care? Things kind of broke down, however, when it came to actually writing my paper. Somehow I got lazy and ended up facing the deadline for my paper with nothing written. To meet the deadline I copied large sections of my paper directly from one book. Plagiarism was actually easier back then, there was no internet for a teacher to quickly check the quality of a paper, and I actually got away with it. Sure, I had plagiarized, but my efforts netted me a wholly undeserved “A” on my paper. Although I did not know it the universe had a Karmic re-balancing waiting for me.

I received my next research paper assignment the next school year during a U.S. history class. I decided to research the discovery and development of baseball. At that time, I loved baseball and attacked the assignment with a passion that only baseball could inspire in me. I worked on that research paper, and after a month of research, writing, and re-writing I thought I had produced the perfect paper. My references were properly listed, material in the text properly cited, and all of my conclusions were original. I was proud of the work I had done and felt confident I would receive a well deserved “A”. The teacher thought it was a great paper also. In fact, as he pointed out in his comments, he thought it was too well written and I must have copied portions of it directly from other sources. He wanted to give me that “A” but under the circumstances would give me a “C” and talk to me about plagiarism.

This lesson was not wasted on me. Although I did not make any connection right away, later, after more reflection, I had to laugh at the karmic re-balancing the universe had dealt me. I did receive an undeserved grade in tenth grade, but the next year a much deserved grade was reduced. That is why I believe in a form of karma and always try to do good so that, hopefully, good things will come back to me. Actually, even if good things do not come my way at least I have the satisfaction of knowing I always tried to do what was right, treat others fairly, and leave the world a better place. That seems to be a good place to start.