Column - 2009: Karma in action

Talk about it

Instead of looking ahead to the New Year and making promises that I probably can’t keep, I’m going to reflect with gratitude on all the good things that came out of the past year – and be glad I’m being given another year, and another chance, to do it all over again.

It’s been a year of newfound friendships. I am deeply grateful for having the coolest women I have ever met come into my life this year – women who I am honored and privileged to call friends. They are amazing.

It’s also been a year of old friendships rekindled. Say what you will about Internet social networking sites, but Facebook has brought me back in touch with childhood friends who are partly responsible for making me who I am today. They have reminded me on a daily basis what an idyllic childhood I had and that they were part of that happiness. They have made me laugh and cry and reminisce and realize the influence that childhood friendships have on adulthood. And the classmates from high school? They make me thankful I don’t have to go through THAT again!

My two children are about as different as two people can possibly be, in every way they can be different. I have a non-conforming, philosophical, serious, deep-thinking, opinionated but kind, sensitive, non-materialistic, artsy, long-haired hippie boy who wants to eliminate injustice and save the world. And I have a bubbly, smiling, friendly, rule-following, responsible daughter who gravitates to the society norm and wants to have a career, get married, have 2.5 kids, a house in the suburbs and drive a Land Rover. And she will work her butt off to make sure she does. I love them both equally for everything they are and feel so lucky to have children who possess such conflicting qualities. I have the best of both worlds.

I got my car paid off this year! I am so grateful I no longer have a car payment. Yes, there are a couple cracks and dents in it, and my sideview mirror is attached with duct tape, but I think that just makes me unique. Who cares – my car is silver – the duct tape blends right in.

Most people vow to lose weight at the start of each New Year. I’m deeply thankful for a passion for exercise and a metabolism that allows me to not have to make that difficult resolution, yet. Ditto for giving up smoking, drinking or gambling – other vices I’ve never had. Now if I could just conquer that addiction to candy.

I’ve had some heartbreak this year and it hasn’t always been easy. But oddly enough, instead of making me doubt myself, it has actually made me feel more confident, stronger, at peace with who I am, and it has made me realize that I’m a pretty cool person (of course, some may argue with that!).

Finally, this is the year that it was proven to me that sometimes, what goes around really does come around. I’ve seen karma in action – a teenage boy finding an expensive Blackberry and turning it in, only to have the exact same favor returned to him a day later when he lost his cell phone; a person who helped a friend financially even though he was struggling, rewarded when a good deal practically dropped in his lap. But I’ve also seen the opposite – lies, deceit and deliberately setting out to hurt someone else resulting in friends and family turning away, job stress, illness and a string of bad luck.

So, I guess I do have a resolution for this year – I want to continue to try to live by the Golden Rule and “do unto others.” Because this year, I learned that if you keep trying to do the right thing and be a good person, someday, somehow, you are rewarded.

It might not be something major like winning the lottery or getting a promotion or building your dream house. It may just be that you have great friends – old and new, children who love you, pants that fit, an appreciation for what you do have (even if it is held together with tape), a bolstered self-confidence and a renewed faith that eventually (maybe not today or tomorrow or even 10 years from now), but someday, kindness, respect and truth will prevail.

Tags: jo colvin, opinion, columns, colvin