Grace beats Karma

I'm blessed by many things: good health, great job, amazing friends, a deep and ever growing love for my wife, the sun is shining etc...

I don't believe for a second that I 'deserve' any of it. Sure, I've earned much of it, I had to work hard to get this job, and I try to make and grow meaningful relationships... but that's not the same thing. It's a trap to think that anyone 'deserves' anything, whether it's good or bad.

Starving kids in Africa don't deserve their fate, and Bill Gates doesn't really deserve the resources he controls. Yes, he's earned it, but that's different.

Grace and Karma

Sharon Stone's recent comments that suggest a karmic link between China's treatment of Tibet and the earthquake that killed 68,000 Chinese people (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7425203.stm) was ill advised, ignorant and offensive. It itsn't too great a stretch to compare it with Jerry Falwell's suggestion that the 9-11 attacks were a result of God's anger at the ACLU (http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/f/falwell-robertson-wtc.htm).

There is one significant difference: Sharon Stone is an entertainer by profession. Jerry Falwell is a religious leader by profession. We should demand more of our spiritual advisors and expect less of our actors.