My name is Tyrel

Karma : The total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the sitcom My Name is Earl, it happens to be one of my favorites shows. Yes it is a little raunchy and has some crude humor in it, but I think it has a pretty solid message. Earl, who has been for most of his life a bad person, learns the hard way about what karma is. I'll spare you the details of the show, but in essence he learns that the only way his life is going to get any better is if he starts doing good things. He even goes as far as making a list of all of the bad things he has done and tries to make up for them. A pretty noble concept if you ask me.

Ok, I don't believe in karma the way that hindus and buddhists do. I don't think that it completely controls your destiny, but I do believe that what goes around eventually comes around and if nothing else if you want to be treated a certain way you should act a certain way. So humor me for a bit and don't judge me too harshly because I promise I am more aware of my own short comings than you are and I am harder on myself than you will ever be toward me.

observation #1 Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother

This is a commandment I've never questioned. I have been blessed because of it. I am proud of my name. I love my parents unconditionally. I will not speak evil of them. I feel the same way toward my grandparents and I feel strongly about my heritage. Because thats important to me, I am married to someone who feels the same way about her parents. She loves and honors my parents as I do hers and it has been a blessing in our lives.

I've also seen the opposite recently. I've seen good people who can only focus on the negative things about their parents and also their inlaws. It made me sad when I saw their kids act so disrespectfully toward them. It disheartens me to see people I admire so much be so stupid.

speaking of stupid...

Observation #2 Stupid Car!!!

I've been struggling with a situation at work. It has stressed me out and, quite frankly, made me pretty angry and bitter. About the same time I was struggling I was asked by my branch president to speak in church on "relying on Lord." This frustrated me even more because I had been praying my fat little heart out for answers on this situation. How am I supposed to speak on something I don't know how to do? Well, while I was preparing my talk this scenario popped into my mind. If I was driving down the road and saw someone broke down, screaming at their car, kicking their tires, red in the face mad; I probably wouldn't stop to help them. In contrast, if I saw someone broke down on the side of the road with the hood up, or pushing their car out of the way, or maybe just in tears crying and trying; that would probably be the person I would want to help. I think Gods feels the same about us. Maybe thats not so much karma, but it sounded good.

I think I'm going to make my own little karma list. If I want good things to happen I have to do good things and work on my own shortcomings.

I'm out of time, I'll continue this later.

I'm just trying to be a better person...My name is Tyrel