Something Good

January 20, 2019

When positive things or negative things happen to us, are they the result of good luck or bad luck? How much control, if any, do we have over the events of our lives?

Last night I had the good fortune to stumble across a YouTube video of a 2010 Oprah show celebrating the 45th anniversary of The Sound of Music movie. It was an emotional reunion of the cast members who portrayed the von Trapp family, including Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, and the children (now adults). In addition to excerpts from the film, Oprah interviewed the actors about their experiences of being in the movie, and even had a clip of a young Julie Andrews singing Edelweiss with the real Maria von Trapp.

After watching the video, I scrolled down to read the comments. The vast majority were gushing expressions of appreciation of the film, the actors, and Oprah. But I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to read a few cutting remarks about Andrews (her hair), Plummer, and Winfrey. Even the “kids” were criticized for not having aged as gracefully as Andrews.

I was so elated after watching the show about one of my favorite movies that I dismissed the snarky comments as coming from cranks who probably criticize everything and everyone they encounter. But this morning I began to reflect upon the nature of people who have an appreciation of others, as well as those folks who tend to be critical. Of course we all have our likes and dislikes, our positive and negative opinions about whatever we come across in life. I certainly am capable of sarcastic and negative judgments of other human beings.

Still, it does seem that individuals develop certain tendencies over time, as we make conscious and unconscious choices about what to think, say, do, or feel. And those choices are usually motivated by fear or love. As those choices accumulate, they form a pattern, sometimes known as character or karma. And that pattern, those tendencies, that momentum, attracts similar energies, people, and experiences. Then we wonder why our lives turn out the way they do.

One of my favorite songs from The Sound of Music is a duet between Maria (Julie Andrews) and Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer). In the song Something Good, Maria and the Captain sing of their wonder at their good fortune at having met each other: 

Perhaps I had a wicked childhood, perhaps I had a miserable youth, but somewhere in my wicked, miserable past, I must have had a moment of truth. For here you are, standing there, loving me, whether or not you should, so somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. Nothing comes from nothing,  nothing ever could, so somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. 

I do believe that good things happen for a reason, though that reason may be shrouded in mystery, at least to our uncomprehending eyes. But if good things happen for a reason, what about bad things? Again, I believe that life events are not random, and that there are no accidents. Yet if you ask me why a good thing or bad thing happens, the obvious answer is that I usually don’t know the specific reason. In some cases the cause and effect relationship is fairly clear: my dad’s lungs were damaged because he was a lifelong smoker. No mystery there.

But what about kind, loving people who are murdered or who die in car accidents or natural disasters? What about innocent children who are sexually assaulted, or people born with severe deformities or health challenges, or individuals or groups targeted because of their race or sexual orientation? Once again I would say that these events are not coincidences. But it’s not my place to judge others for their misfortunes, especially because I don’t have enough information to form an opinion. Fortune or misfortune may be the result of karma (cause and effect), but it could also be a deliberate choice by the soul to have a certain experience in order to gain understanding and compassion. Every soul has its own agenda for growth and for learning lessons. I’m too busy trying to understand and align with my own soul goals to figure out someone else’s motivations or karma.

All I know is that even if I had a “wicked, miserable past,” I want to have as many “moments of truth” as possible now. I intend to create my own good luck by doing, being, and living “something good” now.And when sometimes my life isn’t so good, I hope to remember to return to the sound of my own soul music.