Good Karma Music Stories

I baked cakes today and gave them to the cleaners in my building. I chatted with them occasionally and gave them cakes before, so today was really sweet, because they still remember me after some months not seeing one another. They taught me a few things about plants and how they took care of the building. They also have brilliant smiles, even if their work is a lot more physically demanding than mine.

While swimming in our community swimming pool, we discovered a completely naked teenager peeping at us across the gate. Alarmed, my husband decided to approach the man to see what he after. The teenager did not speak at all and seemed lost, shy, and confused. Furthermore, he defecated on the walkway leading to the swimming pool. Instead of calling the police or security guard, my husband determined that the teenager has no intention to harm. He remembered seeing a a car with bumper sticker that said “proud parent of autistic kid”. Making the connection, he decided to lead the young man to the house near the aforementioned parked car. When he knocked on a door, he discovered a tired and apologetic mom who had fell asleep and forgotten to lock the back gate, leading to her son’s escape. Relieved, my husband was glad to solve this mystery. Furthermore, he cleaned up his defecation on the street so that no careless children or adults would have the misfortune to step on it.

On a chilly rainy day here, I just felt like cooking lentil vegetable soup for the six of us in an office apartment. They are my former colleagues and their spouses, and still good friends a year after I left the company. It was a simple, wholesome vegan meal, and we sat around a warm table while the Californian rain pours outside. Family style. I was very happy during the cooking, meal, and clean-up, as old friends come together to “break bread together”. So simple, so good! Thank you for the prompt and nudge, which put the idea in my mind in the first place!

One day in an Orphanage On my 33rd birthday, me and my friends went to an Orphanage and treated the lunch for children. Seeing them ate well, we all were in tear. There are about 100 children there, after eaten lunch, we gave them the stationery, snack and money. Seeing they were happy and prayed for us, we were very happy and satisfied what we have done.

This happened about ten years ago. I was living in Guadalajara, Mexico, teaching English on a low salary. I walked past an overgrown lot going to and from the school every day. A stray dog lived there who I called Chucho. Most mornings I brought her my table scraps wrapped in a tortilla. One morning I called her and she came running and waited in anticipation as I opened the bag and discovered — a tasty snack I had been saving for myself! I had grabbed the wrong bag! When I looked at her hungry face, what could I do but give her my yummy treat? (I had to think about it though!) But it was a small sacrifice to bring a little bit of happiness to a sad and hungry dog.

I stopped eating meat in 1970. I wonder how many lives of pigs, cows, chickens, fish and sea creatures I have saved simply by NOT eating them? Now 47 years a vegetarian, nearly 20 a vegan, I’m aware of my body being powered by vegetables. I consider subtracting from my karmic balance sheet all the animals still alive and not swallowed into my stomach to be “kindness by subtraction.” A good deed, worth the music!

My daughter is graduating public high school this year. One of the many activities open to the seniors is a “Grad Night” at a local theme park. The cost is over a hundred dollars. I’m happy that my wife and I are able to afford to pay for this so she can participate in a social gathering of her peers. However, I know that not all parents will be able to afford to have their student participate. I began to think about this and wondered why the school PTSA would spend time organizing an activity that would knowingly exclude some disadvantaged students. After all, is not the aim of public school an egalitarian system of education? After an email exchange with the president of our PTSA I learned that there were many students who would not be able to participate purely because of financial reasons. I told her that my wife and I wanted to sponsor a disadvantaged student by purchasing a second ticket and adding some pocket money as well. After the next PTSA meeting the president called me to tell me that, upon hearing what my wife and I had done, that others in the PTSA were touched and they too wanted to sponsor a student as well. I told her it was nice that we had been this inspiration; however we still believe that the PTSA should not be working on activities based on financial ability because it was exclusionary. Not sure this message was well received. But we are happy that at least one senior, that would not have otherwise done so, will feel included.