By Anonymous in California
“Don’t let your karma run over your dogma.” I heard this cheeky saying on the radio when I was in high school, and immediately laughed then tucked it away in the back of my mind to pull out at an opportune moment. Of course, back then I thought I’d be using it on someone else, not myself.
Let’s start with my dogma, at least my political dogma. I’m a classical libertarian, often (but not always) voting for the Libertarian Party candidate (if there is one). I believe in a government of limited scope with strictly defined powers, and I view almost every government program with skepticism if not outright antipathy, from the federal government all the way down. Even when government programs start with good intentions, I tend to see them as simply crowding out more effective charities, commercial groups, or other private actions. And that’s not even getting into my concerns about regulatory capture, bureaucratic overreach, etc. Whenever I hear someone looking to the government for help, my instinctive question is “What else have you tried first?” Suffice it to say that I don’t have a very favorable view of government programs and those who try to make them bigger.
So that’s my dogma; what about the karma? When my son was only a few months old, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. One half of his body, including his left arm and leg, was hardly moving. He couldn’t reach out to play with toys, even though we could see how desperately he wanted to. We didn’t know if he’d ever be able to crawl, let alone walk. I’ve never been big into sports, but now I achingly wanted to be able to play baseball, soccer, and everything else with him. At the very least I wanted him to have the chance to decide on his terms, not because his body wouldn’t let him. The next year-plus was a blur of doctor’s visits, therapy, and relentless drives back and forth to appointments all over Los Angeles (which is not known for good traffic).
Not what you fantasize about when you’re becoming a parent.