After a four day weekend spent not doing much, though enjoying some rare good company, it would be typical for me to return to work and moan on about how crap my life is, how my jobs sucks and blows etc.
However, early this morning a good friend of mine rang to inform me that a colleague of ours, who I would also consider a friend, is suffering from cancer. Having gone into hospital last week to have an appendix removed, tumours were discovered and the prognosis is bleak.
Naturally, this has happened in my life before - I've lost friends and family to cancer and other causes - and as then, what it does remind me is that any ideas of natural justice/karma are bollocks of the highest order. This is a man who has worked non-stop since he was 16 and was three years from retirement and being able to spend more time with the family he loves, including the recent addition of a grandchild.
But none of this matters: life is cruel and random and despite all his good deeds/work, it seems unlikely the baby will have many memories of granddad. Having never known my own grandmother due to cancer, I can appreciate what a tragedy that is, especially when the person is a good a man as he is.
This is so sad, I'm sad to hear it.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I can't help but feel that your immediate dismissal of 'natural justice/karma' is a bit premature and ignorant.
Let me isolate 'karma' at least. By your figuring, karma = bad things don't happen to good people. Therefore, because this has happened to your friend, karma is bollocks. But honestly, do you really believe the principle of it, whether it's true or not, is that simple?
I'm not saying that it's true or that you should believe in it, I would just expect someone to make a more educated or informed argument against it if you were to be denouncing it.
Furthermore, for someone that appears to be against racial stereotyping and discrimination, you are sure quick to jump on the 'anti-' bandwagon for a different issue, (this one), with a similarly inadequate understanding of what you are talking about as the people you condemn for their racist views.
I'm not trying to convice you to change your opinion. I'm not even saying you're wrong. I am just a bit disappointed in the hypocrisy of this post, and the fact that it shows how quick you are to form a strong negative opinion about something that you don't actually understand at all.
Well, first of all I should point out I wrote that as a kind of 'immediate' reaction to the news and as such, it may well not be the most rational piece of writing I've ever done.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, my use of 'karma' - in hindsight - may well be incorrect. I think I was using the term as commonly so here, rather than any deeper meaning associated with it's roots. Example: man commits terrible crime, meets gruesome fate, people will say it's "karma". Equally so, person has life of generous acts and kindness, wins millions on lottery, and so on. I'm sure the true concept of Karma is considerably more complex than this, so forgive my generalisation. Again, it was a reaction to something that stirred up a lot of sadness/anger in me. Perhaps I shouldn't have wrote it, but part of doing this blog crap was to get thoughts down as they occur so that I can examine them in the future.
I would argue, however, that issues such as racism/discrimination are as clear-cut as can be. It's wrong, pure and simple. The issue of karma/meaning is far too deep for the likes of me to understand at any great level: my own personal stance is that it doesn't exist. But that doesn't mean I think less of anyone who takes the opposite view - I wouldn't denounce the theory wholesale, and I'm always open to arguement and changing my mind, but as of today my view would be that existence is an absurd mess.
"That said, I can't help but feel that your immediate dismissal of 'natural justice/karma' is a bit premature and ignorant. "
ReplyDeletePerhaps a bit more tact wouldn't go amiss, Aishwarya?