Tangled Webs

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Guest Post by Riley Carson

“Oh what a tangled web we weave 
when first we practice to deceive.” 
Sir Walter Scott 

My parents were ethical people, and worked to instill this value in their children. My mother’s favorite quote was the one shown at the beginning of this post. But I learned better through trial and error than via admonitions. 

Regarding trial and error, some people seem to be born with a special talent for instant karma: the tendency to not get away with anything. I am among this elite group.

What is more, the consequences of my actions often come back quickly—instant karma in action. The obvious benefit of instant karma is this: when unpleasant consequences boomerang back, you are not left scratching your head and wondering why. My first lessons came long before I had heard of this law of cause and effect. 

Arts and Crafts Class

During my senior year in high school I learned a couple of key life lessons when I got caught in the tangled webs of my own creation. The first began one day in an Arts and Crafts class. Items made by the students were laid out on a table for viewing.

One classmate I will call John had made an especially attractive key ring. Though I hadn’t stolen anything before, I was seized by a sudden impulse to steal that key ring. When nobody was looking, I slipped it into my pocket. A few minutes later John announced his key ring was missing, and asked if anyone had seen it.

After a quick search by everyone around the classroom failed to locate it, the teacher suspected one of us had stolen it. He announced he was going to leave the room, and trust that whoever had taken it would give it back. For fear of being exposed as the thief, I played dumb and kept quiet. When nobody stepped forward with a confession, the class ended in an atmosphere of suspicion. 

A few weeks later the same Arts and Crafts teacher was manning the ticket table to a school dance. I came up to the table, and reached in my pocket for money to buy the ticket. The stolen key ring, now with my car keys on it, came falling out in plain sight of the teacher.

I saw his face harden as he clenched his jaw, but he said nothing, so I figured he didn’t make the connection to the lost key ring. I went on to the dance with relief. After the dance was over, I noticed the teacher talking to John, and overheard him say, “I know who stole your key ring”.

I shamefully approached them both, gave John his key ring, and profusely apologized. John responded gracefully, with a simple “Thank you”. I vowed to myself to never steal again.

Literature Class 

The second incident happened in the Literature class. All the students were to compose a poem over the weekend, and post it on the classroom wall the next Monday. That weekend I happened to listen to the song “The Windmills of Your Mind”.

I like the lyrics, and thought they were fine poetry. The thought crept into my head, “This song is probably not well known by my classmates. I think I will just transcribe the lyrics and pretend they are my own!” I started writing down the lyrics: 

Round like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel
Never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel
Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon
Like a carousel that’s turning, running rings around the moon. . . 

Monday morning I arrived at class and posted “my” poem on the classroom wall. Soon a cluster of students gathered around it, commenting on how good it was. The teacher came over and read it too, complimenting me.

This is great, I mused with inflated ego. But I hardly had a minute to enjoy the praise when instant karma arrived in the form of an alert classmate. He blurted out loudly, “Riley didn’t write this! He stole it from the song The Windmills of Your Mind!” 

I stood there humiliated, all eyes on me. It hadn’t occurred to me that my vow to never steal again included not pilfering someone else’s words. In a twist of irony which I only discovered when writing this blog post, I noticed a line in the lyrics that pointed to both my key ring theft and my theft of the words from the song: 

Keys that jingle in your pocket, words that jangle in your head 

Not only was my instant karma instantaneous, it also had a sense of humor. I imagine for some readers viewing this story from the perspective of today’s troubled world, these two high school incidents may seem like minor teenage pranks from a more innocent time.

But their teaching power was efficien—no grand theft auto followed by prison time was required for me to get the point. 

I think the terms “bad karma” and “good karma” are unfortunate. Sure, consequences of our actions may be pleasant or painful, but in either case they facilitate our spiritual growth—both of equal value in the eyes of Soul. I was grateful I learned these lessons early on, before they had a chance to escalate to more painful outcomes.