An Experiment in Karma

The invitation came from a Facebook friend.
"You have been invited to participate in a karma experiment. As you are aware, many people are going through tough times and we wanted to see if it is possible to change a person's karma."
Hmmm. Karma. Intriguing.

Yes, we have been waiting for news about the next big work cutback. We've been struggling, like everyone else, to get through each pay period.
But karma. I hadn't considered karma.
Karma, and I paraphrase Wikipedia, is the belief that everything you do will be visited back upon you. Do good deeds, and good will come to you. Bad deeds, and bad will follow. That's basically it, though there are disagreements on the role of a god or actions in past lives.
According to this guy, it could be the answer to everything:

Karma has a lot of believers, even including some high-profile Christians. When Jerry Falwell blamed the World Trade Center attack on abortionists, feminists, gays and, of course, the ACLU, he was basically talking about karma. Fred Phelps and his family claim the loss of life in Iraq is the fault of American acceptance of gays. This is karma, too, although I doubt you'd ever hear them call it that.
Greed blinded the bankers and hedge fund managers and the government officials that were supposed to regulate them. In return, we have financial collapse. You could call that karma. Or you could just call it the natural chain of events.
I hadn't really ever blamed my own personal karma, though. Perhaps it's time. Perhaps I should take a more Republican approach and "take responsibility" for my own karma.
Usually, when I think of karma, it's to take a little surly comfort in the thought that someone who has been bad to me will be punished. That person who left his car alarm going for three hours in the parking lot by my house. That person will be up all night with a neighbor's barking dog.
That sort of thing.
But maybe the car alarm was my punishment for something. As is the car in endless need of repair ($320 more this week), and the faucet that pauses three seconds after you turn the tap. And the elderly cat in need of expensive attention for a sore on her lip. And the threat of pay cuts. The list goes on and on.
What could have I done to bring on such a load of bad karma? I always thought of myself as a nice enough person. But today I looked back through the years for bad things I've done and--whoa! Looks like I'm screwed. Totally screwed.

So I signed up for the Facebook karma experiment.
First step, join the group. Second step, invite others. Check and check.
Next: Do a random act of kindness.
Here's where I got stuck. What sort of kindness should I do? There goes a grocery employee pushing a line of carts across the lot. Should I leap out and help him, or would I seem too much like a creepy cougar lady? We don't have parking meters here, so I can't prepay any one's time. What else...Holding the door seems just like ordinary politeness, so that shouldn't count.
This is a big deal because, you know, this could backfire. I did a random act of kindness one Fourth of July a few years back. I was taking a walk with my daughter (then a kindergartner) and the dog when we happened on an old lady I'd seen in the neighborhood. She was very frail, but she was walking, slowly up a hill in the afternoon heat. Her slow, teetering progress was alarming, and when we passed, she asked if there would be a food tent a block away.
I told her there hadn't been a July 4th food tent there for a few years, but then offered to walk her to our house for some leftover KFC. So we walked the last two blocks, with me trying to hold on to both plus the frisky dog.
I fed her chicken, plus some potatoes and applesauce. She was quiet and unpleasant about it the whole time and didn't thank us when we gave her a ride back home.
But no matter. I was happy because I knew it would be good for my karma, or whatever. The Bible is full of this kind of thing. The person you help turns out to be an angel and you can look forward to a big reward.
But...nothing. My random act had seemingly no impact. Then one day I saw the for sale sign on her house. She died, I supposed. And just for a moment--it was just a passing thought, mind you--I wondered, "What if she left us a pile of money in her will?"
That thought, I am convinced, was enough bad karma to put us in financial turmoil for years to come. Only now I learn from Facebook, it may be possible to change my karma back.

So what shall the random act(s) be?
I'm sure I'll come up with something eventually. Until then: