Karmic Justice?

In the movie Ella Enchanted, the title character rescues an elf named Slannen, who eventually takes her back to his home village. Due to cruel laws passed by the King Regent Edgar, the elves can only act as performers and must sing and dance for any human, even if their hearts aren’t into it. Ella witnesses this as she goes through the village, being accosted by humorous bits of song and dance. But Slannen doesn’t want to perform. He wants to be a lawyer. And when Ella witnesses some of the elves being rounded up and forced into a paddy wagon to be performers at the soon-to-be King Charmont’s coronation, she resolves to help find a way to make the new king see the error in the cruel laws and restore the kingdom for all magical races.

Eventually there is a hefty dose of karma in it for the King Regent as well. Without spoiling the movie for those who haven’t seen it, King Regent Edgar gets a bit of his just desserts.

We all often wish for just a little bit of revenge. We want those who have wronged us to get what’s coming to them. We all wish for just a little bit of vengeance. We laugh when those who have done us wrong get their karmic justice.

I’ve seen some of this karmic justice lately. I’ve read comments of people offering thoughts and prayers mockingly to those who now face the repercussions of their actions that seemed ludicrous. (Like the American man who uprooted his family from Texas to Russia because of “wokism” now facing the frontlines in the war against the Ukraine or the man who needed to crowd-fund to support himself after being fired from his job after he proclaimed he held far -right and fascist ideas.) There a song that went viral because it discusses a bit of karmic justice:

I really love that Francesca Ramsey reminds people to look stuff up.

But here’s the thing. When is karmic justice too much? Why is it that when tragedies that befall those who have wrong us, we seek joy in their pain? Why does it seem we’ve become people who take Psalm 137:8b (happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us – NIV version) more seriously than Matthew 5:44 (But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you – NIV Version)?

If we in the US are to be this kind of Christian Nation that some insist we are, then why can’t we do what the Lord’s prayer instructs:

Forgive us our *debts, sins, trespasses* as we forgive *our debtors, those who’ve sinned/trespassed against us*?

Why is it that we hold on to grudges and seek to wrong those that have wronged us instead of looking for ways to forgive, even if we can’t forget?

That aforementioned psalm starts out with a lament, a longing for change and a struggle to keep faith despite turmoil. This world is full of that kind of turmoil and struggle still, even a few millennia later. There is still oppression. There are still tormentors that mock us and then expect us to perform a song and dance for them like the elves in Ella Enchanted. Every time we open up our social medias or turn on the news, it seems there are more and more stories that just make our hearts hurt and send us into spirals of depression. It’s no wonder that the end of the psalm then seeks vengeance and turmoil for those who oppress. They are human, seeking to make sense of a world that hates them so.

But the world is also a magical place, where people can change if they want to, where stories can be shared of love and hope, light and peace, joy and magic. While I know this is just wishful thinking, I believe we can forgive, even when we don’t forget. We can instill boundaries without wishing for constant karmic revenge on those that have slighted us. We can wish for a better world, where the peacemakers and those who thirst for righteousness instead of vengeance are held in higher esteem, where empathy is a virtue rather than a sin, and even if we are the villains in someone else’s story, it’s because we embody compassion instead of bloodthirst, we agitate others because we love instead of hate, we do justly, love mercy and walk humbly.

There is a place for a bit of karma in this world. But there is also much more room for love and joy, peace and hope and plenty of magical light. But only if we let it.

Stay magical, friends.

Write your own story.

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