Karma Koncepts (also known as "Up The Mighty Dees, pa-ting!")
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
There's an epic debate raging in the last post about gig crowd etiquette. It could even develop into a debate of mass proportions, you know. 19 comments deep and the discussion's moved to karma and one of the greatest shows on TV right now, My Name Is Earl. For those out of the know, it's about a guy named Earl who tries to correct all the bad things he's done in the belief that through karma, good things will happen to him in return. It's a widely held belief, but it's rarely executed in the same way as Earl manages to. That's mainly because Earl's not a tree-hugging, spiritualistic hippie; he's a down-to-earth redneck who has a wacky caper every week!
After the recent botched break-in, then actual break-in, theft and subsequent recovery of the Patmobile, I was definitely left pondering the set of events and circumstances that had transpired. Unfortunately, I can't attribute the ultimate happy outcome to anything in particular - be it karma, God or whatever. However, I can discuss my experiences on Friday night when Dean, Will and I saw the mighty Melbourne Demons win their elimination final.
Have you ever had a perfect night? When you sit back and think of how everything went right, was timed perfectly or just turned out more favourable for you than everyone else? Friday was one of those nights. It started out as a mad rush to get tickets and get there on time, but turned out smoother than a top shelf Scotch. I won't recount everything, but a quick list is in order.
- The Ticketmaster lady never charged us for the tickets
- We got kick-ass seats: M16, bottom level, between wing and half-forward flank
- Punt Road traffic wasn't a problem at all driving in, we had heaps of time in the end
- We avoided being rained on when getting to and from the G
- We had undercover seats while we watched the other spectators getting soaked in their stupid plastic ponchos
- The Dees got up!
- I won a $10 bet (made at 3/4 time) with Will
We knew we'd had good fortune and mentioned it several times throughout the course of the match. I remained convinced that Melbourne couldn't win because everything else had gone so right. Only after I'd had a beer did I actually think the Dees were a chance. I do concede that the two events were about as related as, say, a Tasmanian couple.
I remember talking up karma as we were exiting the car park, as I let someone in front of me as a sort of sacrificial offering to balance such an enjoyable evening. I can't recall much else about that - the conversation changed to how we all like getting the thankyou wave when driving. Was it really karma or were we just able to sit back and appreciate good fortune without analysing the bad fortune, such as the woeful umpiring of Darren Goldspink and Justin Schmitt? It's difficult to know, being such a conceptual issue and all.
However, I will comment that humans often expect, or even demand, quite a bit from other people - simply from that visceral feeling that it was owed to them or even worse - it's their "divine right", a quote I mockingly used on Friday, actually. It also seems more instinctive to analyse bad things that have occurred to us rather than good things, which could stem from an ingrained ability to assess failures to improve things - or just because we're a pack of bloody whingers.
So why do people like the concept of karma? Aside from personal experiences, I think karma, at least by Earl Hickey's definition, quite brilliantly summarises the gist of most major religions, but does so in a neat, neutral package. Balance is something that people manage in many other aspects of their life, such as diet or work/play, so it's not a foreign concept for people to try and apply to their life.
As for me, I have a new theory. I call it the Laidback Pessimist. Expect nothing and constantly be surprised and thankful of the bonuses that are delivered to you. Yeah, that's it. Not quite fully thought out yet, but it explains my Friday night better than anything else so far.
Karma or not, I appreciate comments, particularly to help solidify such an airy-fairy sort of topic to post on. So, in summary, uh...My Name Is Earl rules.
3 comments to this post
Brodie and I had a discussion about karma on Thursday night... it's probably the closest thing to anything "spiritual" I actually believe in, although I reject the suggestion that karma is actually spiritual at all.
Our discussion started when we were at Ringwood station waiting for our train. Some random dude went up to the Connex workers hanging around on the platform and told them that he only had a $20 note to buy a ticket, and the machine wouldn't give him more than $10 change. He was obviously trying to see if they would let him just jump on the train without a ticket, but they wouldn't have any of it. I saw earlier in the night that Brodie had a few $10 notes in his wallet, so I suggested he go up to the guy and offer to break his 20 for him. This is something I would do ALL the time without even considering it, I generally try to go out of my way to do little things like that which don't really hurt or inconvenience me in any way, but could probably make someone else's night depending on what it is.
Brodie, predictably, refused to go up to the guy and give him change... fuck knows why, I even offered to go up and give it to him so Bro didn't have to move, but he still refused. So I half-seriously told him that we'd have a shit night because Karma the Vengeful Elephant would have his way with us.
I believe in going out of your way to help others or do good things, but not in the expectation that something good will happen in return... not specifically anyway. I do think that if everyone did nice things to everyone else the world would be a better place, which would be a "reward" of sorts to everyone for their good deeds... but it's not like I would expect a singular positive event to happen as a "square up" for each individual act of kindness I perform.
But on the other hand, when something good happens to me I usually feel some kind of karmic obligation to pass it on to someone else. So I agree with how you let someone pass in front of you in the carpark... that's something I would do if a particular positive event happened to me.
So I try to do random acts of kindness whenever possible, without expecting anything in return, but then also I try to "pay back" anything unexpectedly good that happens to me... which, if everyone did, would mean the world's problems would be solved!
Well, maybe not... but My Name is Earl still rocks.
Oh... and "debate of mass proportions"... Oh!
Very nicely done Pat! Haha
Yeah upon leaving work on friday, I was in a pretty good mood, a bit dazed even. Walking up Auburn Rd to the station, I waved a car to turn left ahead of me crossing the road. I always do this anyway, but on this occasion, me and the dude both insisted that the other person go, and I ended up going. Cars should give way to people by law. But I think that is bullshit and people should get the fuck out of the cars way. So that was like, a karma fight, I DO GOOD, NO I WANT TO DO GOOD! OKAY YOU CAN DO GOOD THEN I GIVE UP!...
And on another note I feel that I am a laid-back optimist.
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