There’s a certain amount of irony involved in life, you know.
I was reminded of this the other day when I was out working in the Stroll Garden, specifically the “Scree Slope” portion where I have all the sedums and hen and chicks planted. There are wonderful dianthus there too.
Here’s a fairly recent shot of the area, taken from within the Japanese Rock garden.
Truly, it is quite wonderful right now. But if you zero in on the rocks in front of the sedums, you will see that the maples propagated themselves quite nicely this year. There are “helicopters” all over the place.
I spent about an hour and a half out in the area, removing the maple seeds, in addition to cleaning out the leaves that blew in last fall. There were plenty of weeds to pull as well, which is sort of how I justified the rather obsessive compulsive clean-up I was engaged in.
So the irony is I can spend hours hand picking weeds and trash out of a garden, but at the same time pulling my vacuum cleaner out of the closet and running it around the house just seems like too much effort. I am GOING to do that job as soon as I’m done with this post. And I am NOT going to photographically document the grass clippings in the hall that rode in on my bare feet, or the dust kitties under my desk, nor the drifts of Ruby’s fur that have accumulated at the edges of the dining room (spring is shedding season, you know). I shall leave all that to your imaginations.
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I find this ironic too. This was our weather forecast for this area for this day.
Today: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 1pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Partly sunny, with a high near 75. Breezy, with a south wind between 22 and 29 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t that pretty much sound like “We don’t think it is going to snow, but we really have no clue as to what is going to happen, so be prepared for just about anything.”
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I found this on Facebook the other day, posted by one of my friends. It struck me as ironic, and wrong headed too.
Karma is a two-way street.
I’m thinking that one ought to look at that statement and contemplate the fact that NO ONE goes through life without hurting anyone. Sometimes it is purposeful, sometimes it is accidental, sometimes it is a knowing thing, and sometimes it is from lack of attention. Sometimes a person who hurts you is lashing out because you have hurt them severely. Lots of scenarios exist here.
So, the question I think one needs to ask is something like, “Who did I hurt that is now watching me be hurt and feeling lucky because God let them watch?”
One can get philosophical here and meditate on the fact that Mass murderers go free, dictators reign seemingly unharmed, nations trample upon other peoples and remain powerful and profitable, Rupert Murdoch and Rush Limbaugh are rich and free. You could wait a Very Long Time to see your nemesis screw up and pay the price. Maybe even a couple of life times.
The other thing that occurs to me is that it is a pretty sick thing to find joy in the pain of others, or to sit by, gleefully rubbing your hands together waiting for them to screw up so you can watch them flounder around.
Perhaps the focus should not be so much on “You hurt me!” but rather on “Who have I hurt?” Perhaps making amends for your OWN transgressions is a better karmic path than sitting back waiting for the axe to fall on someone who you feel has transgressed against you.
Perhaps.
I could be wrong about that. That would be ironic, wouldn’t it?
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Now, I believe I shall deploy my vacuum and maybe even a dust rag. That way, if the tornado develops it will be destroying a nice clean house.
i don’t mind cleaning, but i hate the sound of vacuum cleaners. this is the primary
excusereason i have procured a cleaning service. it all happens magically while i’m away. before that? my husband did it… i developed a very high tolerance for animal fur and dust bunnies…The quote about karma? have to agree that clapping when someone else takes a stumble is a bit rough — but it’s human to want to have justice for those we believe have caused us harm… i’d stop short of thanking god for letting me watch, though.
i work pretty hard to avoid the realm of ‘deliberate cruelty’. i’m sure i’ve caused others headaches, though, just in the process of living my life. quite certain that there are people on the planet who enjoy it when my life gets bumpy.
I just hate the whole house cleaning process. But I hate living in filth even more, so I do it. I personally do not have the resources to be able to hire someone to do it for me, so if I want it done, I must do it.
I’m sure there is a need for silent vacuum cleaners. I understand that the little robot vacuum “Roomba” is pretty quiet.
The problem with that karma quote is that it doesn’t really describe karma at all. And it presupposes that nothing that happened to the speaker was deserved in any way at all. Plus, I know the person who posted it and I know to what she is referring and it makes it doubly hard to swallow, for she most certainly bears some responsibility for her situation.
when i got my last promotion? that’s when i splurged on a cleaning service. i remember making the calls to set up appointments with different services while sitting in an airport… it’s a luxury, that’s for sure. had considered one of those ‘whole house integrated’ vacuum things (where you just stick a hose in the wall) but they aren’t that quiet, and are apprently not good vacuums (they don’t suck?)
I’m with you on the subject of housecleaning. It’s not so bad in the winter, when being outdoors isn’t very appealing, but as soon as warmer weather comes along, I find one reason after another to stay outdoors. I’m sure every gardener has this experience: I start out with the intention of thoroughly weeding one bed, but then something needs cutting back and something needs moving and something needs watering, and all of it is delightful, unlike vacuuming and then dusting and then mopping the kitchen floor. Sometimes, I motivate myself with rules, enforcing a certain standard inside the house before I allow myself to go out into the garden.
There is that wonderful German word “schadenfreude”: literally, damage-joy, and another word I came across recently: the Sanskrit word, “mudita” which is the opposite, the vicarious joy that comes from delight in another person’s achievements or well-being. I guess both of these feelings are pretty universal. Who hasn’t laughed at pratfalls or other mock disasters?
I don’t do very well at housecleaning at any season. After all, even in the winter there is plenty to do outside! Plus, since we heat with wood there is a certain feeling of “Oh what’s the use?” since the stove produces dust prodigiously and bringing wood into the house creates a constant dirt supply.
Pratfalls and mock disasters are not what that quote is referring to, I can assure you. The attitude is “You hurt me and so therefore I will be there to rejoice when you crash and burn.” Karmically, that sets the person into a bad karma situation for later. I really like the Sanskrit word you mention: “mudita”. I intend to embrace this concept wholeheartedly.
Vacuuming is my LEAST favourite chore.
Someday I will have all hardwood and tile floors and I will be able to use a dust mop instead of a vacuum. Someday.
bonus points for ‘scree’. my mom often tried to teach me words like that. i don’t often find a chance to use them, but when i find them in print? a silent ‘thanks, mom!’.
does the fact that i don’t get to see others get their karma justice mean that i’m the one who’s being karma-lized? :-/
Thanks. Scree was actually an intimate of my childhood. I grew up in the Rocky Mountains and we used to go on off-trail days-long backpacking expeditions. There were scree slopes and boulder fields and pink snow (there is an algae that lives in it that makes it pink). For all that, I say “Thanks, Mom and Dad.”
Or maybe you just aren’t seeing their karma being visited upon them. Sometimes we have GOOD karma, you know?
I think there is a world of difference between that quote and my state of – to take an example – if someone drives past me really recklessly, hoping that any accident they cause only harms them. I don’t wish ill on them as such, just that they won’t hurt anyone else by their stupidity.
Absolutely there is a world of difference. Actually, what I wish for is that when they top that next rise there will be a State Trooper there to pull them over, use up whatever time they saved speeding, and put points on their driver’s license while extracting large quantities of money from their bank account.
This wish has come true for me several times. The most notable case was when we were driving a “back road” through Kansas, dutifully slowing down for each little hamlet that we came to. A person in a white cadillac with Colorado plates blew past us at a high rate of speed. I made my wish. About ten miles down the road, that cadillac was pulled over at the side of the road with a Trooper discussing the situation with the driver. I laughed and laughed.
Yes I can imagine that that that would be both satisfying and amusing.
I get terribly confused as soon as I see the word ‘irony’. I keep re-reading definitions but I still get confused.
That’s so ironic