K.A.R.M.A

    Karma...most of us say it, refers to it, threaten with it, but what is it? To me the golden rule of doing unto others as you want other to do unto you, and Karma have always gone hand in hand. Karma is what will come and reap revenge on someone who wronged you, without you having to dirty your hands by doing it yourself. Karma provides that blind faith that everyone will get whats coming to them.
   The story of Abu Kasem's Slippers brings up karma in that he took someone else's slippers and then never escaped the downward spiral that came as repercussion for his action. In this way the narrator tells readers that "not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny...This is the law of Karma" (23). I have recently been thinking a lot about how the decision I am making now will be the ones that can wield a huge effect on the rest of my life. I have been told repeatedly that I am young and there is time for me to change or reverse the decisions I make now later on. But I cannot get over that the reality that they will still change my future. If I do not generate enough good Karma now will I become the victim of bad Karma in the future as Abu Kasem suffered?  "...shows how finely woven is the net of Karma, and how tough its delicate threads" (23). Sure you may be able to change your luck, but is Karma as easily swayed? That time when I was four and I took my brothers Halloween candy, is that going to somehow come forth now and stop me from succeeding at a current endeavor? Or have I already paid that Karmatic dept? This is the fickle nature that Karma Law seems to correspond with. The narrator of Abu Kasem's Slippers also shares that "involuntarily and lovingly we have patched together the shoes that carry us through life; and we shall remain subject, in the end, to their uncontrollable compulsion" (21). This in the end is what we have to realize, that if I live my life the way I want and can fully support my actions then all I can do is put on my shoes one foot at a time and step out and onward in the world.

   My mom sent me a card at the beginning of this semester as I was about to embark on my senior and final volleyball season and the card read:
   "Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world" - Bette Midler
On the inside she wrote "I wonder if Bette had ever thought that volleyball shoes would be the shoes that can conquer----"
   In the end it all becomes a mentality, Abu was too zealous to look for his own shoes and that woefully hindered his life path. For me, volleyball shoes have served as my way of navigating life, and thus far they have taken me to a place I cannot complain about.