Karma, Hula Pie, and the Gift of a Lifetime

This week's blog is a short reflection based on a feel good video that I saw last week.  I'm also letting my left hand recuperate a bit from my run-in with that Deacon this past Sabbath (check my Facebook page for more details on that).  I am also getting ready to roll out the upgraded version of my blog next week and will begin blogging more consistently.  So consider this an "in between" week.
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It's incredible to see what a little bit of generosity can do in someone's life.  I'm a firm believer in the idea that "kindness brings forth kindness."  Sure, some people can call it karma.

This picture doesn't do Hawaii justice

I'll never forget one experience Sarah and I had in Hawaii on our honeymoon.  We went to visit a memorial park called Valley of the Temples in Oahu that had tons of cool replicas of temples from around the world.  Walking through many nice-looking memorial stones with flowers around the tombstones, I saw an overturned and dirty looking tombstone that had the inscription on it, “For Dad.”

Delicious Hula Pie.... *heavy breathing*

I thought, “What would it be like if it were my family member there?” So I spent a few minutes cleaning it up, rearranging the flowers, said a prayer for the person's family and then we continued on our way.  That evening we went to eat at an awesome restaurant called Duke's.  Just as we were going to pay our bill, the waiter brings Sarah and I a HUGE ice cream cake dessert called a Hula Pie and told us that someone had bought it for us!

“There must be some mistake," I told him.  “We don’t know anyone here.  Can you check to see if this is the right table?" He went back and said, “No, there is no mistake, someone wanted you to have this.”  Till this day, I don’t know who did it; I don’t know what else to attribute it to than to the idea that “kindness brings forth kindness.”  Karma?  Hula Pie gods?   Providence?   I don't know.

Like the video says, “You don’t be kind to others in order to get something in return.”  You are kind (which is different than being nice) to others because it’s the right thing to do.  It’s the Golden Rule.