Snowed last night, about as much as the meterologists predicted (which was a bit of a surprise). I woke up early this morning and went to shovel my car out so I could get to work. That was when I looked down the length of the neighbor's driveway - about seven yards of pure, pristine, foot-thick unshoveled snow - and saw the Little Old Lady pushing away in tiny fists and stops with her ancient, heavy shovel. There was really nothing else I could do; I got to work on her driveway.
An hour and a half later I had finished. The Little Old Lady thanked me profusely and gave me a twenty dollar bill, which I'd rather she hadn't done. I told her so, but she refused to take it back. I spent the next hour and a half shoveling out my own walk and clearing off my own car. After all of that, though, I was done. I couldn't be bothered to go into work, so I called out. I didn't call out "sick" or "snow;" I called out "Boy Scout."
Hinduism tells me that I have incurred positive Karma and this will help me be born in a better place in my next incarnation. Christianity and Islam would say something that is, in principle, similar about my post-mortem rewards. I could even take a "new age" approach to Karmic doctirine and say that staying home today (and the $20) is my reward for helping.
Buddhism says fuck that noise, helping out the Little Old Lady is just the social and ethical obligation of any human being and looking to get any reward out of it, in this life or any other, is just going to lead to suffering. For example, if I expect to be rewarded, I will be disappointed when I get in to work tomorrow to find that they've docked me a personal day for not making it in. On the other hand, it's good to smile at a $20 turn of good fortune.
Perhaps strangely, I wasn't expecting any money and I am expecting to be docked a day. I was genuinely happy to help. Maybe I'm better at this Buddhism thing than I thought.
* * *
In other news, I'm taking the opportunity provided by my extra day off to get more writing in. Yeah, I've got an extra day off and I'm being industrious. What happened to the days when I was lazy and proud of it? What's become of me and my slacker ethic?
Comments (6)
$20 will go a long way toward a Full Metal Panic 02 DVD. There's karma for ya. :)
Posted by Erik (the roommate) | January 28, 2004 2:35 PM
Posted on January 28, 2004 14:35
Interesting something similar happened over here as when i woke up i was suddenly charged to wait for some people at my house and couldnt leave for work until they arrived...
they took quite some time to do so and i tried to work from my place after all i have a decent internet conection but alas trouble arose again as these people used the electrical instalation to do some fixes" and so the computer i was using to conect to the internet died :(
after this i had no other choice than to drive as fast as i could toward work a good 1:30 hour drive ....
so in the end i did a good deed but not willingly as i expected to be at work instead.
and arrived at work albeit a litle late..
no repercussions from work besides the work that had acumulated so i guess my karma evened out :)
Posted by gus | January 28, 2004 4:08 PM
Posted on January 28, 2004 16:08
Erik - I get paid in two days. Patience, young grasshopper.
Gus - First, let me just say how much it sucks that it's an hour and a half drive for you to get to work. I hope you like driving, man! Second, well, at least you made a noble effort, right?
Ah, back to work for me tomorrow...
Posted by Jason | January 28, 2004 9:37 PM
Posted on January 28, 2004 21:37
I do stuff like that all the time, Jason. I don't think most people do things out of a desire for a better life next time around or getting something back. I do it because it needs to be done and I genuinely like helping people. But, that's just me.
Posted by Jon | January 30, 2004 4:42 AM
Posted on January 30, 2004 04:42
In addition to Jon's comment, some people do it because it's just the right thing to do according to their own consciences!
Further, what would Buddha say about you posting said occurance on your blog? ;-)
Posted by Bekah | January 30, 2004 8:10 PM
Posted on January 30, 2004 20:10
Oh, hey, I didn't mean to imply that people only do good deeds because religion tells them to or because they want something out of it, and I didn't mean to say I was unique in my helping out of Little Old Ladies, either. Believe it or not I actually have a more positive outlook on human nature than that. I just approach a lot of things from the perspectives of religions. It's what comes of having been a Religion Major.
I also seem to have "Boy Scout" tattooed across my forehead. Little Old Ladies have in fact approached me in the past and asked me to help them cross the street. It's surreal.
As for what the Buddha would say, well, as with many things, Bekah, I expect the smarmy bastard would just smile and keep silent.
Posted by Jason | January 30, 2004 10:56 PM
Posted on January 30, 2004 22:56