[Robert]

Once upon a time... I was walking across a large parking lot. I had just parked my car and was walking to the shopping mall. I forget what I was buying that day, but that is not important to the story. What I do remember is that I was chewing some gum that had long since lost its flavor. I was also pondering Karma, the law of cause and effect. Karma is the belief that there is some cosmic principle, universal law, that when one does good, good things will happen in return, and when one does bad, bad things will happen. For some reason this got me thinking about how some inconsiderate people will spit their gum on the ground, not caring about the grief this action will cause the person who later steps on it. Several times it was me who stepped on the gum. I had memories of scrapping this germ infested wad of spit-soaked garbage off from the bottom of my shoe. It is really disgusting as many of you are probably aware. How could anyone do such a thoughtless, inconsiderate act. I might have even been frowning at the time. Then a thought came to me, an idea; I thought it was brilliant!

I tilted my head back, gave a good inhale, and I spat that gum out into the middle of the parking lot. It was in the middle of a walkway where, surely, someone would eventually step on it. Was I a hypocrite? Was I inconsiderate? Had I become my own worst enemy??? No! I was simply a scientist conducting an experiment. I created a cause and was looking for the effect. I had done bad and surely must be punished. That is, if there is a Law of Karma, I had just tilted the scales to the bad and things were out of balance. I was sure I would step on some gum that day. Probably as I walked back to my car. But that didn't happen.

I didn't step on any gum that day. Or the next day, or the next. In fact, I had forgotten entirely of that incident after a week or so had passed. Then, one morning I was walking to my car to drive to work. I unlocked the door. As I opened my door and stepped to the side I felt my right foot slide ever so slightly. I was momentarily confused. But when I looked down, suddenly, a flood of memories came rushing back into my consciousness as I realized what had just happened. I had just stepped onto a mound of dog feces.

--Robert