K is for Karma

When I was 7 years old, my neighbors were playing flag football in my backyard when one of the guys was taken down pretty hard on a blindside tackle. His name was Kevin Watkins, and he knelt on the ground bleeding profusely from his mouth. Dripping blood, he reached inside his right cheek and attempted to untangle the skin that was embedded in the razor trap of braces attached to his bicuspids.

"This is what I get for kicking out Jeremy Johnson's front teeth in the fight we had last week." he said as he tore his cheek from the metal manglement. "This, is Karma."

As a kid, I had no idea what Karma was. I asked my Uncle what Karma was, and he laughingly told me that Karma was the thing that ran over his Dogma. This threw me into even more confusion as a seven-year old. I had no idea that he even had a dog!

Later in life, my dear friend The Swede (and yes, that is his blogalias) got me hooked on a show that is devoted to Karma, "My name is Earl". It was at this point when I fully understood the definition of what Karma truly is. Karma, he taught me was when one course of action in a person's life brings about consequences, or rewards, for those actions. It is neither good nor bad, it doesn't take sides, it is just an idea that the universe is seeking to balance itself so that all will be in order.

So then is the fact that Tiger Woods can't putt to save his life, and has gone 19 months since his last PGA tour win, because Karma is getting back on him for cheating on his wife with so many undisclosed women?

Is the reason that Global Warming is increasing because Karma is trying to balance out the sinking of the Titanic?

Is Karma the reason that I had to have surgery on my finger twice?

Here's a good example of Karma for ya; growing up, I had a buddy who at the time could be classified as a "loser". This good friend of mine's blogalias shall be Big Bang Devito. Big Bang was never "popular", he never went to all of the "cool kids parties", he never was someone who all the girls wanted to date. He was a computer geek on the surface who so many people made fun of on a constant basis.

Nine years later, all of the "cool kids" from my high school are either alcoholics, living off of Marlboro's, or behind bars. And the "dork" that they all made fun of, the one they tried to shove in the lockers, the one who used to mock every day, is now a licensed pharmacist at only 28 years of age, making a six-figure income. There's Karma for ya.

I'm glad I was friends with Big Bang Devito.