Dear Karma Cleanser:
My favorite Chinese restaurant is a real dive, not the kind of place you’d expect to serve some of the best Hot ‘n’ Sour Soup. I took a group of friends there recently on a Saturday night, and before our meal was served I excused myself for the restroom. In the ladies room, I was horrified to see a large flying insect crawling up the mirror. I’m not even sure what it was. I hurried and got out of there before investigating further.
Back at the table, my friends asked why I looked so rattled. I started to tell them about the bug, but then I stopped myself. This was their first time coming to the restaurant, which I had been bragging on for months. I didn’t want them worried that their food might be crawling with insects; the bathroom is very near the kitchen.
My soup was just as hot and delicious as ever, but I couldn’t enjoy it. I worry now that I can’t ever go back to that particular restaurant because I didn’t tell my friends the whole story.
—–Unfortunate Cookie
Buddhists believe that all life is sacred, and to intentionally kill even an insect is to risk bad karma. The Karma Cleanser can’t always concur. We say you should have squashed Mothra and then told your table mates about it. Maybe they would have never ventured back to Happy Family Hole-in-the-Wall, but at least you would have prevented some other poor sap from ending up with an eight-legged wonton in his soup.
Dear Karma Cleanser:
The school where I teach is going straight to hell. Every year I see a group of students even more surly and violent than the previous batch. Their minds are soft and lazy, and they have zero respect for authority. I used to think that I was doing good by holding back the tide of ignorance, a noble assignment given to me by circumstance but one that I embraced with the zeal of a missionary. Now, six years later, I am crestfallen. The kids have beaten me, figuratively and (almost) literally. I’m sometimes afraid for my life.
A new school year is just starting, and I almost weep every morning when the alarm clock sounds. What did I do to deserve this situation? Where do I go from here?
—–B.A. in B.S.
To last six years in today’s educational abyss is achievement enough. To continue when your soul cries out for change is cheating both yourself and your students, who deserve a dedicated mentor despite their barbarism. Life is not convenient, nor is it metered out in morning bells and afternoon breaks. Bow out now before the situation gets worst. Don’t look back. You haven’t failed — you’ve graduated.
Been bad? karmacleanser@gmail.com.
This article appears in Aug 17-23, 2005.
