Karma

I don't know if you ever watched it or not, but there used to be a show on television called "My Name is Earl."  Now, in my opinion, this show would have had to move a LONG way to have ever become mainstream, but like so many other things in my life, if you put it at the right time of the day, I watch it.  That usually means sometime between 3 and 5 am when I'm having my daily sleep sabbatical.

Anyway, the premise behind the show was that Earl had done a lot of bad things in his life, and after an event that changed him, was working his way back through his life, correcting as many of these injustices as  possible. He talked about karma as if it were a true force of nature, one to be realized and recognized at every turn.

I am not to the place that Earl was with his worship of karma. Rather, I love to watch people either do something unexpected or something to pay it forward. I absolutely love stories about people in the Starbucks line paying for the person behind them, and the process continuing for hours after it started.

I find myself actually looking for opportunities to do something nice for someone I don't know. Of course there are a lot of them. Every now and then, one really makes you smile. Yesterday was one of them. We'd gone to breakfast at a place we had never tried before. Breakfast was incredible, but there was an item on the menu that I wondered about - bread pudding French toast.

So check this out: they make bread pudding from their leftover sticky buns, let it cool, slice it, batter it, and cook it as French toast. After asking questions, even though we were finished eating, we had  to try it. I placed an order for the table.

In the time between ordering it and having it arrive, I heard two older ladies talking at the next table.  Now, the reason I had even thought about trying this was that they had been asking questions about it all through breakfast. Anyway, they finally decided to try it themselves. When they ordered, I heard the waitress tell them that they had just sold their last serving for the day. Of course, I knew that serving was coming to us. There was only one thing to do. I asked our waitress if she would please charge the order to us, but split it between us and the next table. After all, we all just wanted to try it.

When the waitress delivered the half order to the other table, you could tell immediately that the ladies were pleased and amazed. In some small way we helped make their day brighter and maybe, just maybe, we started a chain reaction of one person helping another person for no real reason other than it was the right thing to do. And if not, it sure made me feel good. Helped to brighten a day that was already pretty darn good.

So, next time you are sitting in that line at Starbucks, think about buying coffee for the next person in line, or help someone with a door, or help someone carrying a heavy load. You will be amazed how good it makes you feel.  Have a great day.