I first heard the old cliché, “What goes around, comes around” a long time back, when a buddy of mine said it when we were teenagers.

At the time this phrase meant nothing to me—but I never forgot it, either.  Must have been my subconscious again, working when I was loafing, understanding the prophetic nature of these words long before I would.

Over the years since, this line has come to mind time and again.  Actually, as I’m thinking about it, the words “What goes around, comes around” have usually occurred to me at the really obvious moments, when I’ve seen them validated in real life.  Think OJ.   

Maybe you’ve seen this phrase—this principle—manifest itself.  It’s hard to miss, because people like to make note of it when they see this hidden force play out. 

And there’s usually a bit of satisfaction in the voice; they’ll see a person’s actions come back to them and say things like:

“He had it coming.”

“She deserved what she got.”

“He asked for it.”

Our actions do tend to have a payoff, have you noticed that?  What we do often gets done to us, in some form or another, one way or the other, by somebody or another. 

Some people die never realizing this.

A few people understand this, and make it work for them.

Some get it in a round-about way, but continue to fall prey to it.

This principle is easiest to conceptualize—and so hardest to ignore—when the action and its “repercussions” happen in close proximity. 

Example:  Guy  punches other guy, gets punched back.  Simple concept, easy to visualize ahead of time, (and reduces the number of people willing to punch other people). 

So people tend to respect immediate consequences.  Consider this:  Why isn’t Russian Roulette more popular?  No national organization?  Lack of playoffs?  The networks won’t cover it?  No, it’s because the action/repercussion cycle is instant!  There’s no delay between the player’s action… and its result.  And since losing means dying, Russian Roulette is a sport that’s maintained low appeal.

But regarding repercussions, here’s the catch, the part that causes trouble for a lot of us:  Very often there’s a lag between when stuff “goes around”… and when it “comes around”.  That is, it takes a while for our bad actions to make the trip back to us.

To muddy the water even more” what we get back may not come from the person who got it from us, and we may not get the exact same thing we gave!  Add this to the delay of getting our consequences back, and it’s easy to see why most people fail to draw a connection between what they do, and what “happens” to them in life.    

This is what creates the illusion that something—anything from a lie to a murder—can be “gotten away” with.  If a person isn’t caught and he believes his guilt isn’t known, he subconsciously assures himself, “No one knows I did it, so there won’t be any adverse effects.”

But the Universe has a sense of humor, not to mention a terrific memory.  How this happens is beyond me.  I have my guesses, and maybe you’ll have yours.  But it seems that when we do something—bad OR good—it comes back.  Water always goes back to level, and so does everything else. 

Equilibrium, that’s the answer. 

Balance.

Nature always brings the needle back to center.

See, even if nobody knows what we’ve done, even if we have “gotten away with it” in the strict sense, there’s some force out there that makes sure that an equal measure comes back to fill that space. 

There’s no such thing as “getting away with it”. 

Think OJ.

“So what’s any of this have to do with a mule?”  Okay, you’ve been patient, so stay tuned for my next post, Part II of ‘The Truth Comes Around’.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Boomerangs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.