Nothing to do with Karma or Thai Food

Over Pad Thai and Chicken Curry, she asked me what she did to deserve these close-calls. Words are scary and can be over and over like a tape-loop...She looked into my eyes and told me it must be KARMA... These men over the last several months had acted out against her because she must have done something in her past to deserve it. What was the meaning in these power struggles with men?

I was horrified in that moment that she believed that several near-violent encounters were as a result of her thinking she wasn’t a good person. That’s really messed up!!! She is actually one of the best people I know! Bad things happen to good people all the time! Nothing is fair in this world, nice guys finish last. These are cliques for a reason! Things happen because they can and always will happen and its our responsibility as human beings to find the morals in these happenings.

Karma, well, the western belief of karma... that we get what we deserve, is contrary to the actual definition of karma.... An Eastern idea that we are born with energy that we must burn away before we leave this lifetime and pass to another. This Western accepted idea of Karma can be a double-edged sword because we are both the victor and the victim.I sat across the dinner table, looking into the sad sweet eyes of this highly-educated, deeply good-hearted best friend and I know that inside her big brain, she knew that karma had nothing to do with what happened.

It was actually transference of anger and she even said it herself when we worked through the sorrow and confusion. People take out their innermost feelings on others; they do it all the time, unknowingly! She was just the one who was there in time to flip the switch. Take your pick... She represented the mother, ex-girlfriend, lover... I have been on both ends... I have been the good and the bad bitch and I believe the Western version of KARMA myself, dammit!

I’m sorry that my friend is dealing with this. It brought up some real power fears in me too and I will do anything within my own power to help her if I can. For now, I will meditate on empowerment. On, knowing, we are all in charge of our own strength, knowledge and wisdom and no one can take that power away. Its inside.