Karma seems to be "believed" by a lot of people, including myself. I started thinking the other day about examples of Karma that I have personally seen. This brought me to thinking about a friend I once had...<p>This friend was happily married. They had two young children. Her H had an A. They eventually split and he married this woman. My friend continued with her life and the raising of her children. She was a great mother. She was a well thought of high school teacher. The kids loved her. The parents and her peers thought highly of her. She was a good person. When her youngest had graduated HS and gone off to college she met a wonderful man that she fell madly in love with. They were a great couple. Very loving and in-synch with each other. They set the date and planned their wedding. But she never got married because she was diagnosed with a fast spreading cancer that killed her before the wedding date. This is just too sad for me to handle with any type of reasoning. <p>The EXH is still married and by all accounts very happy with his now W. While they were married he was not successful, but after their divorce he has been very successful and in fact is a multi millionare.<p>Where is the karma??? Maybe it doesn't always come around. [img]images/icons/confused.gif" border="0[/img]

I hate it whey I do typos. I can spell millionaire. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif" border="0[/img]

Oh, I think it ALWAYS, ALWAYS comes around---it just doesn't always advertise. You don't really know what goes on in someone else's life. <p>I just got a nice thump in the head by the Big K last week. Feeling pretty smug, had my A, ended it, H none the wiser, marriage doing great. Then I remembered H's EA last year and was discussing it with him. Found out that it was actually of a more physical nature than I thought AND that he had made plans to divorce me and begin a new life with her. I don't feel quite so smug now.

Welp, I think sometimes it's instant .... and then there are times it is after the offended party has happily moved on.<p>But I do believe it happens, regardless.<p>Jo

Karma hasn't been seen in this instance. And it has been 20+ years. And my friend is now gone. I have thought of other instances since I thought of this too where Karma just didn't happen. Perhaps karma doesn't really exist.

Unfortunately I am with you Amazed. I do not believe in Karma. I thing it is merely some sort of rationalization that people desperately hold on to because they are unable to face the truth. The truth is that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. The bottom line is that life is unfair to many many people. People wish to hold on to the magic concept of karma because it allows them to sleep at night but unfortunately it is an illusion. Sometimes people get what is coming to them and sometimes not. There is no magic formula and there is no logical reason for it. It is sad but true.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by AMAZED:
<strong>Perhaps karma doesn't really exist.</strong><hr></blockquote><p>Wow, Amazing, I thought you were writing my parents' life story there for a minute! The diff is that my mom never "found" anyone else to love her the way she should have been loved before she died of bone cancer 6 weeks after their last court hearing for child support years after the div. (child support we never got, BTW) - dad just quit paying.<p>For his part, "dear old Dad" M the wh&re he had the A with, and they lived "happily ever after" until she div. him after 13 yrs of M (same length of time my parents were M), and broke his heart. She died of brain cancer several years later. <p>He went on the build a very successful business, took up with a woman 25 yrs younger than he, and lives w/her still. She is VERY opinionated, bossy, greedy and he basically has A LIFE and his children around only if she allows it.<p>Where is the Karma? Well, I'm not sure I believe in karma at all, BUT I do believe God has an accounting for all of us to go through. Once we die, we WILL pay for our actions, one way or another. For her part, I believe my mom went on to a much better place than this world ever was for her. I believe my dad FEARS his death, I know he fears sickness and weakness.<p>I believe it ain't over till the fat lady sings each of us our swan song. For my dad, that day hasn't come yet, and I don't think he'll handle it well when it does. Do I believe in karma? No. I believe in God. And I KNOW God "settles all His debts" with how we treat others while we're here. God never lies, so if He says He will settle our accounts HE WILL! In this life or the next, no matter to God.<p>So, to sum up, if it seems that your friend's xH has "beat the odds" - don't bet on it! Just hang around him on Judgment Day.<p>God Bless,

I was thinking something along the lines of Lupo.<p>I think Karma DOES INDEED EXIST, but we may not be around to see it.<p>I once worked for a man who truly was the devil incarnate. He was EVIL and hateful and charming and fooled a lot of people, but not ALL the people. He stabbed people in the back, was a master manipulator, and was loved or hated by everyone I knew. No in-between. He made all of us cry at one time or another.<p>He had me doing illegal things, and when I said I couldn't for moral reasons, he threatened to sue me for defamation of character unless I wrote a letter of apology to him. <p>He cheated openly on his wife.<p>He was a millionaire.<p>I kept waiting for this man to get his come-upance (sp?) but I never saw it. He's in his 80's now, and is still out among the living. I keep expected to read that someone's shot him to death. Nope, hasn't happened.<p>That doesn't mean that Karma doesn't exist though. Because Karma really is the law of "what goes around comes around" and we don't know the recesses of people's minds or hearts. We don't always know the private pain.<p>And of course, for believers, there IS always judgement day.

Bryan,<p>"I thing it is merely some sort of rationalization that people desperately hold on to because they are unable to face the truth. The truth is that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people."<p>Bad things certainly do happen to good people. And why do you think the saying "good guys finish last" came about? Great points! You make a lot of sense.<p>Lupo,
What a sad, sad story regarding your mother. Sometimes life just isn't fair. But God always is!

Karma is a more internal check with reality than one that can be seen on the outside.<p>To me, Karma is that reality check that tells me when other drivers on the road are aggressing me, it's not that I'm being aggressive too - but rather that I'm tolerating aggression in other areas of my life. Maybe I'm making myself a target; Karma helps me find where I'm vulnerable and clean it up. <p>But hey - if there were only rewards for being good, and only evil for being corrupt, would any of us be corrupt?<p>Karma isn't about that. It's not about others "getting their rewards" for screwing me. Sometimes they never get what I think they deserve. <p>Karma is strictly that force that if I pay attention to it, will give me accurate feedback about how I'm living my life so I can make a course correction to happiness.