Karma Electra

Every new television season brings with it a host of new shows all doing their best to keep (or steal) your attention.

Most of them are flops. Crappy rehashes of shows that were actually good. Last year there were a few stand outs for me that I’m still totally hooked on:

Lost – Enough said. If you aren’t watching this you should be. No excuses, it’s not even on cable. Go, get the DVDs of the first season, and watch this season.

Battlestar Galactica – Again, in my humble opinion, probably one of the best shows on TV right now. It just keeps getting better.

Numb3rs – I really dug this show. I was sad they didn’t use a lot of math in it, but they started picking that up more towards the end.

Aside from those three (Oh, make that 4, you cannot forget House, I despite what others may thing – and you know who you are – it’s a great show), I think those were the only shows I really dug from last seasons offerings. This September isn’t shaping up a whole lot better. Of the new shows that I’ve been able to take in thus far, it’s been a 50/50 split on thumbs up and thumbs down.

In the total waste of time bin:

War at Home. Ugh. Total waste of time, and the canned laughter isn’t even very convincing.

Bones. Oh, I wish I could be a CSI wanna be show too. Oh wait, it already is. Its fine if you want to copy show, but at least be just as good or better.

In the I’m liking things so far bin:

How I Met Your Mother. This show is kinda like a reverse Wonder Years. It takes place in 2030 and is a father telling the story to his two kids of how he met their mother 25 years ago. It was fun, tense, and not a bad way to spend 30 minutes. Toss in Doogie Howser and man, you’ve got hit brewing.

My Name is Earl. Hello!? Jason Lee. I mean honestly do you need to say anything more? Here’s a little snippet from the about section for the show’s website :

Before Earl can begin his journey, his inevitable attraction to misfortune surfaces once again. Seconds after winning the lottery, he is hit by a car and while unconscious; the winning lottery ticket blows away. While in the hospital, Earl watches “Last Call with Carson Daly” where Carson says that his success is a direct result of doing good things for other people. It is at that moment Earl discovers karma- and in hope of a better life, he sets out to correct every bad thing he’s ever done starting with a grade school geek, Kenny, who Earl used to pick on.

Carson Daly says, “Do good things, and good things happen to you. Do bad things and it’ll come back to haunt you.”

In a word: Karma.

As in intellectual, the concept of karma is one that appeals to me. The idea that there is some massive cosmic balance sheet; for every dollar I invest, I get one back. For any of you long term readers you’ll know that I have a strong sense of Justice, right, wrong and balance; the good or down trodden should be lifted up and the bad or self serving should be brought low. I hope that if you’re a good person and you do good things that good things will happen to you. If you’re a low-life, problem causing, gossiping, lying, self-serving evil scum hopefully a weighty object will fall from a great height and squish you to the insignificant thickness of your soul.

But as a Christian, I am compelled to see things a bit differently.

I know that I have done enough bad in this world that I cannot make up for it with money or deeds. That there is no way I can pay my debt to society.

I know that the rain falls on the just and the unjust.

Good things happen to bad people.

Bad things happen to good people.

Evil, for the moment, sometimes triumphs.

Life isn’t always fair.

Often times you do indeed get just what you deserve.

It is hard sometimes for people (myself included) to wrestle with why God allows the things to happen the way the do. “God, how can you be a loving, kind God and allow this terrible thing to happen to my life?” We in the church have a tendency to toss out, “Well John Smith, we live in a fallen world, blah, blah, blah, blah.” But those words bring no hope, no comfort and sadly no answers.

For life to make sense for me, I have to believe that what God says is true. That he does have plans for me, that all things do work together for the good of those who love and serve God. If not, then life just breaks down. When the storm comes, when the flood seeks to swallow, you have nothing to cling to.

The bad times will come.

Life will be hard. You will feel like you are on the verge of snapping. You will feel like your world is just one straw away from crumbling down to its very foundations.

Sometimes that’s right where you’ll find yourself.

But its right then that you’ll find yourself. Who you really are, what you’re really made of, what you believe in and the kind of person you are.

Again, even if you don’t buy into all this religion stuff, you have to have some hope greater yourself. If not, what keeps from just sitting down and dying? What causes you to pick up your feet and keeping going?

I do believe in a balance sheet. I do believe that I can store up for myself treasures, but its not in this life, not in this world.

I know I cannot pay my own tab. I am just thankful that someone else already has. My job here in life is do what I can for others. Not because I can fulfill my debt, but because I am grateful that it has already been taken care of.

All that aside, if you take nothing else away from this prattling, watch, “My name is Earl.”