Positive karma

Do we count our cents and the dollars will take care of themselves — take care of the small stuff, or as in the song, ‘Let it go’ — only worry about the big stuff?

A trivial, petty incident provoked thought on the matter — ‘that’ hamburger joint had run out of 5c coins, so they couldn’t give me all my change, and seemed initially surprised and then annoyed that I actually wanted my change. The coin was irrelevant, but I thought if it was their fault then they should be the ones short-changed. As I waited there quietly at the front of the quickly-building queue they found the needed coin.

Any front page of this newspaper will show that there are major worldwide

problems that need attention, and we think there is nothing we can do as individuals, but as many proverbs say, the individual can do much as part of the whole.

What should we do? We should start with the trivial, even the petty, and start to raise the expectations of people rather than accepting the gradual decline in standards and service so that others are freer to handle the bigger stuff.

How do we do it? Gandhi has shown the way — just stand there quietly and smile or say ‘Not good enough,’ and return the faulty item or the poorly-cooked steak.

There is so much to worry about that we should take a few steps to start improving things. It’s positive karma, and it feels good.