Badmovies.org Forum

Have you ever done something and felt like it'll come back to you?

Yesterday I found a guys wallet and I got it back to him today.  No reward though.  Jerk.

Did you do it because you expected a reward or because it was the RIGHT thing to do?

Maybe he's broke; maybe his kid is in the hospital and he needs to save his money.  Or maybe he IS a jerk, but that does not take away from the good deed YOU did - unless you did it only hope of gain for yourself.

No, I did it because it was right.  The reward thing was just a joke.

I have found that a little politeness and common courtesy goes a long way and actually seems to come back to me, not in any sort of big way, but in a lot of small things every day, some examples:
I let a guy go ahead of me at the check stand in the market yesterday, today, on the way home I stopped to get some odds and ends and there were 2 long lines at the check out, while I was standing in line a clerk walked up, took me to his register, when he opened up I was first in line.
I let people have the right of way at intersections if there is any doubt about who has it, or if they are obviously in a hurry (this last is actually safer as the people in a hurry don't always watch what's happening) and I have found that more often than not I get the same courtesy later on but from different folks. There's a lot to be said for karma and for doing unto others as you would be done unto by them.
 

Karma for you Dennis, those little bits go a long way for our society.

Since my birthday is on December 24th, I personally think someone giving a combination birthday-slash-Christmas present ought to earn at least karma-lite. You know, get splashed by a passing car during some future rainshower, or have this individual's  DVR not record the season finale of their third favorite show. That sort of thing.

On the subject of karma, though, there's an interesting teaching that says the only way to earn bad karma is to interfere with another ensouled being's ability to exercise free will (killing someone being the supreme example, but also enslavement, even some forms of mind control) since only via the act of making choices and reaping the result of those choices is personal evolution possible.

The path to good karma is said to be through altruism. A deed done with self-interest behind it is not altruistic: and yes, I know some argue there is no altruism.

Karma by this school of thought is less about punishment from on high/the beyond/gods than about being indebted to another until amends is made.

I don't necessarily subscribe to this but I have often thought about it.