As I have mentioned on one or two occasions previously, my son, the intellectual, has a lot of opinions, some of which he shares with the world in his weekly column for his college newspaper. I never can seem to get it right which columns will incite people, and which ones will cause a collective yawn. Which certainly throws my own intellectual pretensions into question, I would have to say. Is it possible it's all a sham to cover up my insecurities?
Last week, he did a column on the OJ Simpson trial that recently concluded in Las Vegas, City of Sin. This time, it seems, the sins may have finally come home to roost, and apparently in the right coop, too. Which is, in my opinion, a fitting turn of events for someone who has been a fox in the hen house and never gotten punished, despite the pile of down fluttering around his feet and the tail feather stuck between his teeth.
Tortured metaphors aside, OJ Simpson is a controversial figure. Whether or not you think he got away with murder seems to have more to do with your understanding of the criminal justice system in this country than it does with the actual truth. While around 85% of white people think he is guilty, only 34% of black people think he definitely killed his ex-wife and her friend. In addition, another 30% shockingly don't know if he did it or not. How can that possibly be? What could possibly explain that level of division? The only answer, from my point of view, is that justice is not color blind. On the contrary, it appears to be color driven.
It seems that my son agrees with me, although not for the same reasons, about some of the flaws in the system of justice in this country which allowed a murderer to go free. The fact that my child is now grown up and has his own ideas about things, which are different than mine, baffles me. I nurtured this child from the moment of conception - how dare he turn around and have opinions of his own, and worse yet, hold opinions which are contrary to mine? Honestly, the next thing you know, he'll be telling me what to do. Oh wait. Check.
Anyway, we had quite a lively discussion about the whole justice argument after he wrote his brief essay. I disagreed with him on a fundamental level, because his conclusion seems to be that first, karma isn't real, and second, unearned retribution is not right, even though it feels good.
I disagree. I think karma is a fundamental reality, and the choices you make, good or bad, will ultimately come back to you. Although frequently it's later rather than sooner, which isn't usually fast enough in my mind. I would prefer instant action, but the world doesn't seem to work that way. It isn't fair, but then, life's not fair, and then you die. So why should karma work any differently?
As for the second point, I believe that there are some cases in which the public interests are served by getting the criminal off the streets, even if it's for the wrong reasons. (Can we all say Al Capone?)
That is not a judgment on the outcome of this particular trial. I don't know enough about it to have an opinion, really. Although I'll be honest, whatever he was accused of, I'm pretty sure he probably did it, arrogant cretin that he is. His defense team would have been most unlikely to allow me on the jury, due to my lack of impartiality. But in this case, I was speaking more about people getting away with stuff generally, and that sometimes the right punishment can apply to the wrong crime, but it evens up in the end. Karma.
My son, the activist, thinks that being punished for the wrong crime diminishes the course of justice. Personally, I say it's the natural course of events, the logical consequence of living your life badly, and it is how justice works in the real world.
But then, I've always been a true believer in natural and logical consequences. Back when I started parenting for myself, they didn't really call it that, at least as far as I know. Mostly, people in my neighborhood called it getting what you had coming to you. Or getting your comeuppance. In other words, karma. Ah.... There IS a theme here after all.
Karma is mainly a Hindu life concept, although you will also find it espoused in Buddhism and several other Asian traditions. It is based on the precept that there is a cycle of cause and effect, and that what you do affects your future and that of others whom you impact by your choices. For those beliefs that have a tradition of reincarnation, that effect can follow you right into your next life or two, which, if you ask me, is a heck of a punishment if you screw up.
Karma is not, by definition, good or bad. It is merely the word for, and the explanation of, the nature of cause and effect in our actions and our choices. If you make good decisions, there will be a good effect that occurs. When you make bad choices, there is a bad outcome. Whichever it is, you own it, and you are responsible for it.
That lack of ownership seems to be primarily at the heart of a lot of the negative stuff I see in the world today, something for which OJ Simpson seems to be the poster child. OJ is experiencing bad karma because he made bad decisions, over and over again, and whether or not he is accepting responsibility for the outcome, (and rest assured, as always, he isn't,) the karma is still exacting it's own sentence.
One of the things I have tried to do in my life is to live well, and to take the high road, even if other options were open to me. I find that taking the high road rarely takes me down the wrong path. On the contrary, I have never regretted doing it, because I can look at my image in the mirror every morning and feel good about who I am.
I would recommend that OJ take some of the time he will almost certainly spend in prison to review his decisions, to check his choices, and to see what he did to contribute to where he he finds himself today. I think that same lack of ownership may be the single biggest problem in this country right now. We make poor decisions, but they are never our own fault or our own responsibility. Instead, the fault belongs to someone else, and the outcome is out of our hands.
I would say that your karma will find you, wherever you are. If you take the high road, you won't get your feet wet in the cesspool.
