Cause and Effect

THE MORAL LAW OF CAUSE AND EFFECT

I just found out in conversation with my mom, that when I was going to college in Hawaii, a Filipino student, who probably loved to drink the juice of sour grapes, wrote a letter to my parents to tell them about my scandalous behaviour and misdeeds as a student. Apparently, the letter alluded to my being a "loose woman" and how I went out with "many men." She also insinuated that my sister and I left a lot of stinkin' garbage on campus. I began to laugh out loud. I said: It's NOT gossip! I DID date many men! Yeah baby! She can only wish she had my life. Such ugliness and bitterness... no wonder I didn't hang out with her.

Ahh---the boundaries of culture! My college years in Hawaii were the most enjoyable years of my life! And I thought high school was fun....college in Hawaii was...life in overdrive! Ahh yes. What a great time it was. And I never regretted a single moment because everything helped me to become me. And I like me.

Gossip is such a pest. I get this all the time. If it's not about my old college "scandalous" past, it's about my arrogance or my lack of mothering skills. Some of my husband's family members made it a pastime to talk amongst themselves---murmuring about me and probably wishing I could be "put in my place". Then there's those other Filipinos who loved to speculate about my private life: does she or doesn't she? (I think they wished they could live my life! Hahahaha!) It's just so banal.

Why I make a good topic of conversation is beyond me. While I was always busy feasting on life's buffet of experiences, risks and opportunities, I really had no time to contemplate what others thought of me. I was just too busy having the time of my life. In retrospect, I'm glad I didn't have the time nor the inclination to invest in those people whose lives must be so boring, they actually take the time to speculate and even act upon their bitterness and negativity. . . as if writing a letter to my parents would ease their nastiness, or make their lives better. It doesn't make any sense.

Gossip's intentions are always to try and make someone appear bad. It is so malevolent. They circumvent facts and wring their truths out of the fabric of reality. Being the constant fodder for ruthless gossip, I fail to see how speaking ill of others can be a source of satisfaction. Next time I see this person, who now works for BYU-Hawaii, I will ask her if she obtained her desired results from writing this letter to my parents, who, thankfully, were simply amused.

I am a firm believer in the universal concept that we will reap what we sow. Some refer to this law as karma which maintains that every act done, no matter how insignificant, will eventually return to the doer with equal impact. Good will be returned with good, and evil, with evil. It's the moral law of cause and effect. Having lived half a century on earth, I have thankfully been able to see first hand how people who seem to 'get away with it" actually swallow their own bitterness, in the end...or at least, eventually. Sometimes, it takes a generation but always, always, there is payback.