This summer, my grandmother is visiting from India, so my parents decided to get the Indian channels on TV. A few weeks ago, a movie called God Tussi Great Ho was on. An Indian twist on Bruce Almighty, it depicts Salman Khan as a very angry man who regards the constant stream of problems in his life as an indication that God is picking on him. Finally, I suppose God grows tired of Salman Khan’s constant tirades and finger-pointing at the sky, so he reveals himself in a human form (played, of course, by Amitabh Bachchan) and decides to give Salman Khan divine powers for ten days to cure all the problems of the world.
When on the tenth day Salman Khan decides to grant everyone’s wishes, all hell breaks loose. The girl he was supposed to marry falls in love with someone else who wished she were his. A man who spent his whole life dreaming of a motorcycle gets one, but since he doesn’t know how to drive it, gets into an accident. And the maid who buys lottery tickets everyday finally wins, prompting her husband (named Dagdu) to take all the money and leave her and her children without any way to support themselves.
After seeing all of this Salman Khan goes back to Amitabh Bhagavan and begs him to undo the disaster he caused. God explains that before Salman Khan ruined everything, people didn’t have everything they wanted, and all of their dreams were not fulfilled, but they were all considerably better off than after Salman Khan answered all their prayers. So even though there are setbacks in our lives, we should be content with what we have and understand that everything happens for a reason.
But sometimes I feel that these explanations fall a little short. Sometimes I feel that really unfortunate things happen to good people. Young children lose a parent to a terminal illness. Or sober bystanders become victims in drunk driving accidents. How can not having a parent be a better situation than having one? How can one argue that being in that accident was better than not being on the road? And why is it that these things seem to happen to good people so often?
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> And why is it that these things seem to happen to good people so often?
Because most people are good. So the question is really why these things happen at all. It’s really unfortunate, and I wish I had an answer.
‘And why is it that these things seem to happen to good people so often?’
I’m sure we are all aware of the westernized definition of ‘Karma’, which is ‘what goes around, comes around’.
If something bad happens to a ‘bad’ person, we feel that maybe the person deserved such punishment. And if the same bad thing happens to a ‘good’ person, everyone wonders how such a terrible thing can happen to such a good person. If the westernized Karma definition is to be applied here, it is possible that the ‘good’ person possibly did something ‘bad’ a long while before and he/she was only now facing the consequences.
However, I’m not much of a fan of this punishment and reward system.
Some may argue that this westernized Karma is a representation of Newton’s third law, which states that any action has an equal and opposite reaction.
However, even without the concept of westernized Karma, the third Newtonian Law can be proven to be true. If something bad happens to a good/bad person, it may not be obvious initially, but the person is being given a wonderful opportunity to ‘push back’– an opportunity to overcome various obstacles and to come out on top as a better person.
Sharmila, I’m sure you remember this quote by Samuel Lover for your 10th grade speech topic…
‘Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.’
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