Bus Karma

Have you ever experienced the joys of bus Karma? Bus Karma is the rare event when someone is rewarded for positive behaviour or punished for negative behaviour… all while enjoying the use of public transit.

It's a theory I've been working on for quite some time now. I'm a huge fan of the concept of Karma and a firm believer in it. I don't believe that there is some cosmic force ruining people's day because they stole someone's digimon cards when they were six, or high-fiving people who shared their last donut. I do however, believe that if you are an all around shitty person, bad things will happen to you. Just like if you're a generally nice person, good things tend to happen.

Let's take a real world example. Someone who's rude all day long should expect the cop who pulled him over to give him the full fine instead of a warning when he cracks a particularly offensive joke. Conversely the nice guy helped his friends move might be surprised when that same friend takes him out to lunch to say thanks.

Bus karma is this same idea, just applied to public transit. That little old lady who got onto the packed bus could probably use your seat, why not offer it to her? Suddenly your favourite spot opens up and you get to sit with a perfect view. That jerk who bumped into a stroller without apologizing as he hurried to get that open seat? I bet he doesn't realize it's open because someone spilled coffee there.

In the end it might just be my naivety only making me remember the good times while forgetting the times when I did something good without anything good happening in return, but if that same thought process makes me happy at the end of the day then maybe that was in fact my reward.