Karma

 

As much as my kiddo is doing well at University, we've had a lot of discussions about selfish, stupid people including some of the girls she shares halls with. This came to a head on Monday night when the dumb bitches had a bunch of lads round who decided to 'trash' her kitchen. Stupid stuff like taking the fire extinguisher off the wall, turning the fridge around so it faced the wall, sticking bin bags over the windows - all the sort of stupid things that lads do when they've had half a shandy, egged on no doubt by the dumb bitches whose guests they were. 

Kiddo was rudely awaken by all this, then had to wake up the next morning to the scene of her kitchen trashed in that way. 

The University did nothing when she complained. Nothing. We knew that they had a pretty poor record for student welfare (which is shocking for a Russel Group University) and it sent me into a slump, because I was hurting for her, on her behalf, and wishing that people weren't like this. 

I started thinking about Karma. We use the word Karma in the opposite way to the way it's supposed to be used. Karma is actually defined as the Buddhist philosophy that if you do good, then good things will happen to you. 

We often use it to describe what happens when karma turns around and bites you in the arse, as it inevitably will for these dumb bitches in her halls who are basically partying all week, skipping lectures, and not digging into the work - while giving everyone around them a hard time. Spoilt brats whose first time away from home involves slipping the parental shackles in order to misbehave, but not in a way that's remote - always in a way that fucks everyone else's shit up, because if there's one thing dumb bitches like this need, it's an audience. 

Kiddo dealt with this very well, with a level of maturity I wouldn't have been able to express. She just keeps her head down, complains quietly, measuredly, presents her evidence. The way sane rational people do when they're confronted by injustice. 

I wanted to reassure her that the 'wrong' use of Karma really does happen from time to time. I can see them tanking their first exams. I can see them having to explain to their parents why they're tanking, and their parents probably quietly buying them out of trouble. You know the song "Common People" by Pulp. It's describing idiots like that. 

As parents we always want to protect our kids and ensure a smooth passage through an often rough, troublesome and sometimes downright shitty world. But sometimes it's the fire in which their steel is tempered. I've seen depths to my daughter in just a few short weeks that I hadn't recognised before she went to Uni. She'll do OK, and I keep telling my stupid evil brain this, because it loves to taunt me with worry about her but I don't need to worry. She's doing so well.