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News of The Weird: Karma Edition

Jan 20th 2009Rachel Gibson
Rachel GibsonOn Writing!

I think I may have mentioned before that I am a great believer in karma. That doesn’t mean I would ever consciously avoid doing the things that would create bad karma. That’s insane. It just means that I drive extra carefully after I’ve stuck my head out of the car window and yelled unkind things. It also means I knock on wood a lot. I don’t know if knocking on woods assuages bad karma juju, but it can’t hurt. I always figure I had all my karma bases covered until I recently when I read the News of The Weird. That’s when I discovered many different kinds of karma.

Everyone knows about:

Criminal karma

A 31-year-old man was hospitalized in critical condition in Salt Lake City, hit by cars after running into traffic to avoid paying for a taxi ride he had just taken. [Salt Lake Tribune]

Kathleen Cherry, 53, was arrested for DUI in Carson City, Nev., in December. She is a phlebotomist working on contract with the sheriff’s office and was driving to the jailhouse to administer a blood test to a DUI suspect. [USA-TV-AP ]

But did you know there’s karma for kids:

According to police in Bethlehem, Pa., four kids (ages 9 to 14) grabbed a donation box in August at RiverPlace park (contributions to an organization that maintains the park’s portable toilets) and ran for nearby woods, with several police officers in pursuit. Three boys were caught, but the other made it a little ways into the woods before falling into a manure pit built by homeless people at their encampment. [The Morning Call ]

And spider karma:

A woman in Santa Fe, N.M., accidentally caused severe fire damage to her home while trying to torch a Black Widow spider. [KOB-TV ]

cat-standing-over_7298383411And who could have guessed there is cat karma:

A few animals were rescued from an early morning fire at a Humane Society shelter in Oshawa, Ontario, in December, but cats suffered heavy casualties, with nearly 100 perishing. The Fire Marshal’s office said the blaze was probably started by mice chewing through electrical wires. [Toronto Star]

It makes a person almost afraid to leave the house. And I’m going to think twice the next time I kill a spider or leave some D-Con down for the mice that run around my cabin when I’m not looking.

Mr. G’s grandmother never killed spiders or mice. She always said they had more right to be on the planet than humans and that we all were invading their space. She lived to be 92 and never had bad karma. Me. I think I’ll keep killing spiders and mice and risk it.

Are you like Mr. G’s granny? Or are you like me and risk bad karma?

48 Comments »

48 Responses to “News of The Weird: Karma Edition”

  1. SheridanLA on 21 Jan 2009 at 12:23 am #

    if the spiders stay outside, I will (mostly) leave them alone. they come in my home, they die.

    I mainly show kindness to other living things, but I have some unspoken rules about things invading my space…so I guess to answer.. I risk the bad karma – at least as it pertains to critters.

  2. Karen Rose on 21 Jan 2009 at 1:42 am #

    Oh, I totally risk bad karma, but it’s usually the afterthought. As in , DOH! Can’t believe I did that! Then I look over my shoulder for the bad karma to commence.

  3. evlqn on 21 Jan 2009 at 4:44 am #

    I try very hard to not risk karmic return of the negative variety, however I have the four legged codicil. That means if it has more than four legs, it is not my friend and I am not required to let it live out its natural life span. In fact if it shows up at my house, and my sister is not there to remove it, the gods meant for it to be returned to the cosmic soup for another go round.

  4. MizMacgyver on 21 Jan 2009 at 5:41 am #

    I have to agree, anything with more than four legs has to go, they can live outside as long as they want but not in my house.

  5. LoriHandeland on 21 Jan 2009 at 6:30 am #

    I always knock on wood. Like Rachel said, “can’t hurt!”

    Spiders don’t bother me. I’d leave them alone if I didn’t have to kill them for my big, bad, 180 pound son. He hates them.

    But mice are another story. I am totally phobic. I lock myself in my office until my husband takes them OUTSIDE and hides them in the garbage so I NEVER see them. I will risk any kind of karma to get them out of here.

  6. Karen Hawkins on 21 Jan 2009 at 6:39 am #

    BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! Rachel, I love those!

    I knock on wood just in case. And I believe in karma in some ways. I don’t think it applies to spiders or any other arachnid, but for humans? Yes.

    I can’t handle spiders. And I, too, once caught my house on fire trying to kill a spider. (Yeah, I need to blog about that.) And please, don’t tell me the spider wouldn’t had done anything to me. I KNOW it was waiting for me to go to sleep so it could crawl onto my neck and SINK it’s fangs into my flesh and drink my sweet, sweet blood. I know it and that’s that.

    As for mice, from a distance they look cute, but I won’t have them around because they’re dirty and carry diseases, chew through important parts of a house, and poop everywhere. I paid good money to mouse proof my house so I won’t have to make the ‘to kill or not to kill” question. I just don’t want to go there.

  7. Lisa H on 21 Jan 2009 at 6:57 am #

    Rachel – I’m happy to risk it. I don’t believe in Karma, most of the people I know who have difficulties don’t deserve them, however I enjoy reading about the ones you posted who did.

    Spiders, mice and any insect die in my house. I pay the mortgage, I get to say who lives there.

  8. Cail on 21 Jan 2009 at 7:01 am #

    well, as i currently have quite a few traps lying around the house for mice, you can tell i don’t care anymore about karma with the little rodents. really i’ve just had bad luck letting them survive which lead to a two week period in my queens apt where we killed a mouse a day. you can be sure that is not fun. Naturally the DH takes care of the disposal since dead creatures really upset me. around here you are considered the devil itself if you cut someone off or don’t let someone into traffic. at nearly every intersection, someone lets you go through- it leads to a great deal of waving. my friends from NY call it the CT wave (paula, thats New York and Connecticut, both states) I was driving in NY recently, and some guy let me go through an intersection and i did the CT Wave, and my passanger, my best friend from NY said… “Did you just do the CT wave?!” So I think I have good driving karma.

    Anyways, I’m not making much sense and I really should get ready to go to work or do some homework or something in the 5 Min I have till I need to leave! (I won’t, I’m heading to the forum… TGB will be the death of my masters.)

  9. SuzyQ on 21 Jan 2009 at 8:13 am #

    I knock on wood a lot and occasionally will toss some salt over my shoulder. Ya know, just in case. But when it comes to creepy crawly things, they don’t have a chance. I hate to kill them – just the thought of them squirming in the tissue, possibly managing to get out and crawl up my arm is enough for me to have my dh do the deed. But in a pinch I’ve been known to throw a shoe.

    As for driving, well, in Jersey cutting off people and not using signal lights is just a way of life. I really don’t get mad unless someone does something really stupid, like cut across 4 lanes doing 80 mph.

  10. Sarah T on 21 Jan 2009 at 8:17 am #

    Thankfully my cat, Puma, made the decision when it came time to decide what to do with the one and only mouse I’ve ever seen in our apartment. And I don’t think she feels the least bit upset about killing it. In fact, I think she walked a little taller for days afterward.

  11. Sabrina Jeffries on 21 Jan 2009 at 8:38 am #

    I never kill spiders. Not for karmic reasons, but because a friend of mine who was a biologist told me that spiders kill mosquitos and flies and nastier things than themselves, so, as she put it, “spiders are our friends” (imagine this said in a heavy Southern accent, and you’ve got my friend pegged). Ever since then, I’ve done my best not to kill them. Unless they’re in the shower with me or something, and I’m afraid they might get me. *G*

    We set a mouse trap once for a mouse in our old house, and when the trap snapped shut I could hear it in its dying throes. It upset me terribly. After that, we always set the kind where it just imprisoned the mouse. Then you could let it loose in a field somewhere.

    What can I say? I’m a wimp.

  12. Freshechelle on 21 Jan 2009 at 8:38 am #

    I risk bad karma every day. I’m nice to people I’ll have to interact with again but if you are in another car, well there’ll be no Connecticut Wave from me (thanks for that one, Cail!). I figure in the end, hanging out with the other ne’er do wells will probably be more fun even if we’re shoveling coal in Hades.

  13. amy1242 on 21 Jan 2009 at 8:41 am #

    I love nature……as long as it stays outside. I used to catch and release the mice in our house and DH would tell me how foolish it was, because they would find their way back in eventually. I don’t like killing them, but I also don’t enjoy them running over my foot as I’m watching tv at night. Now, the traps are set and waiting. Spiders, I have no problem killing. The minute they step one creepy leg into my house, they’ve sealed their fate. I blame it on them. If they just stay outside, they could have all the bugs their little black hearts desire. I believe in bad juju only if you have bad intentions. Keeping a clean, safe house, spider and rodant free, doesn’t count.

  14. Claudia Dain on 21 Jan 2009 at 8:50 am #

    Karma? Sorry, all the mice and spiders and cockroaches and rats will have to do better than that in their PR campaign to get me to stop killing them. It’s them or me. Here’s hoping it’s them.

  15. Louisa Cornell on 21 Jan 2009 at 8:55 am #

    Great stories, Rachel! Especially about the humans. I don’t kill anything that invades my house BUT my little female cat, Rebecca does! She will catch and kill anything that moves in the house that is not canine or feline. So, I guess she takes care of my bad karma.

  16. Janae on 21 Jan 2009 at 9:16 am #

    Last night my 5yo comes running out of the bathroom, screaming that there’s a giant, huge, spider in the bathroom that has to be a tarantula, that I need to kill so she can go to the bathroom. When I got back to the bathroom, it was just a daddy long leg spider, which I killed since it’s better than listening to the shrill screaming of a 5yo.

    I briefly tried composting until the Costco bin literally fell apart. One time I took something out to it, I could tell that a rat was getting into my compost. I was following all the rules they have to prevent a rodent infestation. It didn’t work. The next day the rat was in there when I went to put some more stuff in. I screamed, it took off. Later that same week one of the neighborhood cats cornered the rat in the bin, and there was about a 8 hour standoff before the cat was successful in his endeavor. The rat created bad karma for itself by scaring me and got what it deserved.

    I’m willing to risk the bad karma, any time something nasty invades my space.

  17. Connie Hettler on 21 Jan 2009 at 9:25 am #

    Great Topic,

    Suzy Q., I had to laugh out loud, who throws a shoe, really (Austin Powers) I thought, do you think that is why Bush had such an odd expression, he was wondering if he someone saw a spider. (lol)

    My dh is a hunter, I joke that if it will try to get away he will shoot, stab or snag it. However, he is freaked out about spiders, in his words “they give me the willies, babe”. We have no issues with mice, but growing up we lived near a river and in the winter we would get river rats in the house, they are rats on steroids, believe me NY rats had nothing on those babies.

  18. Rachel Gibson on 21 Jan 2009 at 9:25 am #

    I suck spiders up in the vacuum so they have a chance at life. Okay, that’s a lie and we are talking about karma. I suck them up so I don’t have clean up their guts after I whack them with a shoe.

    My son it totally terrified of spiders. He’s a big 23 year old guy who runs screaming “kill it mom” when he sees a spider.

    Rachelg

  19. Karen Rose on 21 Jan 2009 at 9:59 am #

    As for spiders and mice – I pay an exterminator. Then I can blame them.

  20. gibb on 21 Jan 2009 at 10:50 am #

    Before I had kids, I never intentionally killed spiders, bugs or anything. I’m Buddhist and believe in reincarnation so I’m a big karma believer. After my babies were born, I killed any little critter within biting or stinging distance. What can I say–I think I’ve been watching too many House episodes. In Florida we have tons of spiders and one of my daughters has horrible allergic reactions. I try to balance the spider killing by leaving lizards alone even though I seriously detest them and wish they would hang around other peoples yards instead of mine. I’m hoping in my next life I don’t come back as a spider. And if I do, I’m hoping I have enough sense to keep away from little kids because when Mama is watching –bye bye spider.

  21. colinfirthfan on 21 Jan 2009 at 11:00 am #

    OK I am back again. :) Welcome to our new authors. I was in training all of last week and then in D.C. for the weekend. I left on Monday before the inauguration (I watched the speech twice). I went to see my baby nephew :) I left 70 degree weather (in California) and when we landed it was 12 degrees. That has to be Weather Karma.

    I’ll risk the karma to get my DH to kill the mice. *shudder*, while I sit on something tall. The spiders though I drop outside. If it’s a black widow I squish it. Scared it will get my kids!

  22. colinfirthfan on 21 Jan 2009 at 11:50 am #

    I hate ants and kill them by the thousands. I hope I don’t come back as an ant!!

  23. Freedom Writer on 21 Jan 2009 at 12:02 pm #

    I will kill spiders, and I let my cats take care of the mice and sometimes the bats. I figure they can have the whole outdoors, but if they invade my space they get what they deserve.

  24. Rachel Gibson on 21 Jan 2009 at 12:03 pm #

    colinfirthfan,

    If karma works, you’ll come back as a sugar cube and ants will feast on you.

    I live in the north where it’s cold half the year. I can’t imagine living in the south where the spiders get huge. I’d have to have a can of Raid super-glued to my hand.

    rachelg

  25. colinfirthfan on 21 Jan 2009 at 12:24 pm #

    A sugar cube? I might prefer being squished to being eaten…..

  26. dbrown3400 on 21 Jan 2009 at 12:27 pm #

    Sabrina, my reasons for not killing spiders are the same as yours, although they’ve never bothered me on any level, karmic or otherwise. My daughters had little caged mice as pets when they were young so mice don’t bother me either. When we lived in our house in the woods, we would get cute little field mice. We’d catch them and release them back into the wild.

    I do hate ants and roaches with a passion and am thankful I’ve only had to deal with carpenter ants once. Those are gross and I would definitely anytime to get rid of those pests.

  27. Suzanne Enoch on 21 Jan 2009 at 12:28 pm #

    I selectively believe in karma. I don’t kill insects outside (except for black widows), but once they’re in the house, they’re done for. I figure they would kill me if they could if I stepped into their habitat.

    And I don’t eat rattlesnake, shark, octopus, squid, or anything else that could potentially want to eat me. Because I don’t want to be eaten in some sort of karmic retribution like those cats went through.

  28. Lisa H on 21 Jan 2009 at 12:56 pm #

    All this talk reminds me of another blog about vegitables that could feel pain. Don’t know why, just weird, I guess.

  29. Rachel Gibson on 21 Jan 2009 at 1:19 pm #

    I remember the carrot blog. I didn’t stop eating veggies though. Karmic retribution is why I would never go on a cattle drive and risk a stampede. Well, that’s one of the reasons. The other is no electrical outlets for hair dryers.

    Rachelg

  30. Candis on 21 Jan 2009 at 1:23 pm #

    Rachel, you know I live on a farm. Mice like farms. Spiders like farms. Only the strong survive bad karma. I’m still alive, the mice and spiders, not so much.

    However, I do believe in kid karma. I believe that if you are a very bad kid and drive your parents crazy, you will one day have a child who will return the favor. Just ask my daughter if this is true.

  31. Kathy/Cookiedough on 21 Jan 2009 at 1:38 pm #

    I will leave bugs and spiders alone outside that is their house- once they come into my house- whole other story! I stomp them flat!
    A few yrs of mouse infestations and those little buggers get stomped too! shudder!
    my niece actaully has mice and some weird hairless rat as pets. I hope one her five cats eats them up!

    I feel like I’ve been away for ages! I have been lurking around reading the posts, but not much commenting going on from me.
    This is the first day I’ve felt sorta human again. back pain, barfy flu, cruddy work hrs and yesterday I slipped and fell on the ice coming home from a cruddy 3 hr shift and now my knee is swollen! sympathy please! I had to sit on the ice in the park getting soaked while I put my spiky grips on my sneakers. that will teach me to be more aware of ice that looks like snow!

  32. Rachel Gibson on 21 Jan 2009 at 1:45 pm #

    Kathy cookiedough

    The first time I read your post, I thought you wrote barFLY flu instead of barfy flu. I was so impressed with your honesty.

    rachelg

  33. Kathy/Cookiedough on 21 Jan 2009 at 1:49 pm #

    bar fly flu! hahahaha!
    nope! so not me! I had ONE glass of wine Christmas Eve and that was it for the year

  34. Freshechelle on 21 Jan 2009 at 2:08 pm #

    i read it as barfly too and pictures you as a barmaid with a bad attitude and a heart of gold at some beer soaked honky tonk. Hope the knee is better.

  35. Lisa H on 21 Jan 2009 at 2:28 pm #

    So sorry Cookie! Snuggle up with a good book!

  36. Rachel Gibson on 21 Jan 2009 at 2:39 pm #

    I pictured cookiedough with no teeth and a ciggy hanging out one side of her mouth.

    No one I know cops to barfly flu. It’s always a mysterious illness. I myself have suffered from bouts of “bad chicken.”

  37. amy1242 on 21 Jan 2009 at 2:45 pm #

    LOL!!!!! You ladies crack me up!!

  38. Kathy/Cookiedough on 21 Jan 2009 at 2:50 pm #

    thanks so much! lol
    I have no teeth and I smoke too? ewwwww

    my indulgences are chocolatey goodness

  39. Freshechelle on 21 Jan 2009 at 3:01 pm #

    but cookie are you open to considering becoming a barfly. I mean really give it some thought.

  40. Paula on 21 Jan 2009 at 3:38 pm #

    I like Suzanne selectively believe in Karma but will knock(touch) on wood and have been known to throw salt over my shoulder. I will also cross my fingers!
    Cail Thanks for clearing that up for me.
    Kathy/cookie sorry about your knee, I hope it gets better soon.

  41. Yaya on 21 Jan 2009 at 3:50 pm #

    i will knock on wood occasionally but most of the time I am oblivious to karma or why something might have happened to me.

  42. Kathy/Cookiedough on 21 Jan 2009 at 4:15 pm #

    Sorry ladies, cannot seriously consider becoming a barfly.
    the 24oz flu then gets hold of me.
    not a pretty sight

  43. Rachel Gibson on 21 Jan 2009 at 4:43 pm #

    Cookie, there is no such thing as 24oz flu. It’s “bad chicken.” A few years ago, my son came home after a night of partying with his buddies and started puking his guts out. I told him that’s what he got for drinking so much. He looked at me through blood-shot eyes and said, “I didn’t drink that much. I ate bad pizza.” I just had to shake my head and I told him. “For God’s sake son, everyone knows it’s bad chicken. Get it right.”

    rachel

  44. Meg on 21 Jan 2009 at 5:28 pm #

    I’m sorry. I cannot have spiders in my house! I don’t even like them on the outside around my house. If bad karma is coming my way for killing a spider, then so be it.

    Every now and then I knock on wood. If I KNOW something is going to have bad consequences then I try not to do it. With everything else I am pretty easy going. I do what I think I should and hope for the best.

  45. Meg on 21 Jan 2009 at 5:53 pm #

    Cookie you have my sympathy, too. Hope you feel better soon. And I have to admit, I saw BARFLY when I read your post the first time, too. :-) Why do you think we are all seeing the same thing? lol

  46. Sabrina Jeffries on 21 Jan 2009 at 6:39 pm #

    Donna, you’re right–roaches must die! I hate roaches. I kill them happily. But mice and spiders don’t bother me.

  47. Sabrina Jeffries on 21 Jan 2009 at 6:43 pm #

    Kathy, you poor thing! Take care of your knee. And have some hot chocolate! It’s good for everything. *G*

  48. Rachel Gibson on 21 Jan 2009 at 10:58 pm #

    Candis,

    I know you live on a farm and create very bad critter karma. That’s why I would never stand very close to you in a thunder storm.

    rachelg

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