It's Not Fair!

A generous, caring friend recently attended a meeting at which another volunteer was removed from his position. Apparently a power struggle had taken place and things were not done openly, or honorably.

My friend was trying to deal with the deception she had witnessed to figure out how to help the injured party who was angry and suffering. She asked me for my thoughts on the situation and if there was a lesson to be drawn from what had happened.

To me, the situation attested to the working of karma.

A person who had been doing what was good and who helped others was mistreated by people he trusted. It was felt that while he was not a saint, he had certainly not planted the cause for such treachery in his current lifetime. So how had this happened?

Certain karmic seeds that he had planted in past lifetimes encountered activating conditions in this lifetime. The seeds, the causes, matured and he met with deception. Since he could not remember those causes he had planted in his past lifetimes, he suffered in this lifetime without knowing the reason why. It all seemed so unfair. 

What happened actually was fair in the sense that he had indeed planted the seeds for the deception he encountered. What happened was tragic however in that the people who betrayed the person's loyalty and dedication did not act honestly. And they knew this. And they have now planted the seeds for deception in their own futures.

And when it comes, they will not know why. And they will be angry and will suffer.

And on and on it goes.

Knowing this will not change the current situation but it may help those in it to lessen their suffering through understanding. We cannot undue what we did in the past. But we can understand where karmic consequences arise from and figure out how to not plant those bad seeds again. For those that we already planted—and they are uncountable and without measure—we try to control the activating conditions by continuing to do what is right even when it is difficult to do so.

And even when others do not seem to appreciate our efforts.

Other’s reactions, their appreciation, do not matter.

What matters is why and how we do something.