Karma is….

Posted on by Joyful2bee

The other day I was shopping at a local store. As I pushed my cart around the corner of an aisle, I saw a lady from India squatting on the floor looking for a certain product on the bottom shelf. She sprang up when she saw me, as if to get out of my way quickly.
Apologetically, she explained that she was a cashier at a nearby store and was on her lunch break, trying to get a few needed items before her time was up.
I reassured her, “I am in no hurry. Go ahead and do what you need to do. I have plenty of time.” While she searched for a particular brand, she said that sometimes customers were rude to her at the store, and she really appreciated my kindness.
Agreeing with her that sometimes people can be quite rude or even hateful, I told her that I had noticed cashiers being treated rudely by some people and that those people should be more considerate. It is stressful to the cashier when people glare at them while the cashier is doing the best he or she knows how to do.
I explained to her that I was a retired nurse and understood some of what she was saying first hand. Sometimes patients, families, or doctors could be very rude or mean. But I tried to understand why they were feeling that way and let it go.
She thanked me for being so kind and friendly. I told her, “The world would be a better place if we all acted with kindness and compassion toward each other. Those who are rude may have bad karma coming after them eventually for treating people badly.”
She nodded and was surprised that I knew what karma was. She asked, “So you know about karma?”
My reply was simple. “A little bit. Karma is the same thing as doing something bad, and it comes back to bite you on the butt.”
She paused, looked puzzled, then broke out in a big smile and covered her mouth with her hand, laughing as she walked away.
It felt so good that I may have helped de-stress someone for even a few seconds. In a brief exchange, I showed her there are good and kind people in the world and may have even boosted her faith in humanity
Maybe she was having a bad day, and I helped make it a little better. Maybe she thought about our exchange later in the day and laughed. Maybe she shared our meeting with someone else and made them laugh.
What if I had been rude to her when she was looking for the product, by glaring at her or ignoring her? How would that have affected her? She might have gone back to work and treated her customers rudely. She might have been angry or sad the rest of the day.
You never know the effects of a comment, facial expression, or good or bad treatment given to someone. One of the first “ripples” someone sees could be your smile. And potentially the effects that person might have on others later. There are ripple effects when you do an act of kindness, as well as when you treat someone thoughtlessly.
But since this was during “Covid time,” we were wearing masks a lot in public, I began to wonder if people could see if I was smiling or not at them. So I asked two perfect strangers if they could tell whether I was smiling or not with a mask on. The two people said, “Yes.” They could see the smile in my eyes.
Some “ripples” can start with eye contact or an act of kindness that spreads from one person to many more. Other ripples may be the stimulus for abuse, anger, and further destruction of someone’s self-esteem. Be careful how you approach people.
If we all tried to be kind, compassionate, and understanding, we could at least help to make someone who is hurting have a bright spot in their day. At the most, we might start a ripple effect affecting many more people’s day. Being kind and helping people makes us feel good, too, and it doesn’t cost a thing!
Be aware of how your behavior affects others. Make your contact with others pleasant, if possible, and change the world one second, one person, one day at a time. There is never too much kindness.

32 thoughts on “Karma is….”

  1. I don’t understand why somebody would glare at somebody else whilst they were just minding their own business and trying to live their life! Is it that sometimes humans tend to take out their inner dissatisfaction on other people? Do we really like to dump our bad humour on others? I don’t know. It’s unkind – but even those with the best intentions sometimes fall under that trap. You’re right, though. Karma does like to make her rounds. Sometimes people need karma to become better!

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  5. The first two lines of your post are a perfect way to start a story (or a post) because they really draw the reader in. Well, they drew me in anyway. 🙂 Nice post – keep up the good karma. 😉
    Kindness – Robert.

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  8. So thoughtful. I love the image of the ripple effect… So true and there is a ripple effect within too.. If you do something kind you feel good about yourself and your esteem is raised you are likely to think more positive thoughts rather than being unkind one often needs to justify those actions with grumbling and complaining… Which leads to poor self esteem 😊

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  10. LOVE IT!!! Thank you for being kind to her! You never know. You’re the only one who might have been recently. ❤ I truly believe in karma. When I was a little girl, my grandma used to tell me to be kind to everyone I meet because we never know when we're entertaining angels in disguise, and that has stayed with me even now. Bless your heart!

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      1. Nice to meet you as well. 🙂 Please keep being a kind person. I love helping others and I am in the medical field as well. It can be hard sometimes, but it’s such an amazing experience.

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  12. These small acts of kindness make the world a better place.

    Sometimes being an immigrant makes it difficult to see yourself as just another citizen. I suppose a part of that lady’s insecurity comes from that.

    But I’m happy you made her day!

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  13. This is a beautiful reflection on the power of small, everyday kindness. You perfectly captured how a moment of patience and understanding can create a positive “ripple effect,” potentially improving someone’s entire day and influencing how they treat others. It’s a powerful reminder that our simplest actions—a smile in our eyes, a kind word—matter more than we know. Thank you for sharing this story of compassion in action.

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