Kicking Karma to the Kurb

I just read a friend's status on Facebook and she was giving up on being nice to people because "they always shit all over me". I was struck by her statement, mainly because everyone adores her. This got me to thinking. Are we nice to people because we subconsciously believe in karma? Do we want a reward in return for our good deeds?

My friend is a naturally positive person and maintains relationships with people based on her amazing personality. So I highly doubt Karma is an issue with her. However, the whole theory about "what goes around, comes around" is something to think about.


Justin Timberlake sang a song with the same title and it became food for thought.

If we think we're good and we expect good, then do we believe that bad people expect to receive bad things? I just don't think that's wholly true. Even if it was, that conniving bitch who stabbed you in the back at work to get your job doesn't even care about the repercussions. If something horrible happened to her; would she realize that it was a result of her own doing? I don't think bad people have that kind of conscious.

I will admit that if I pass a homeless person I feel an automatic obligation to give money. The obligation comes out of gratefulness for my own life but also out of fear. Fear of being in the same situation one day if I am not a good person. What constitutes a good person? Well it may be different for everyone. But one of the qualities of a good person is to acknowledge the hardship of others. 

I live in Dubai and sometimes we're blind to the poor around us. I force myself to look at the laborers who are bent over sweating while working. I keep telling myself "look at them...they exist...they're there". We have to look....acknowledge, pray, be grateful, do something or just give.

Karma might exist and it might not. But goodness exists regardless of it.