October 13th, 2007 at 7:58 am
What goes around, comes around
Posted by The Foo in Life through my eyes

Do you believe in Karma? I do.

This story tells it perfectly. I have always said it myself, “what goes around, comes around”.

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

“I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life.”

“No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer.

At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.

“Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.

“Yes,” the farmer replied proudly.

“I’ll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll grow to a man you can be proud of.”

And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming’s son graduated from St.Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known. Throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

Years afterward, the nobleman’s son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin.

The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill.

(Quoted from Opey)


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  • Well... as a Christian I don't believe in karma, but I do believe that wise decisions are not made in vain.

    Cool story :)
  • Twig
    Unfortunately, not true:

    http://www.snopes.com/glurge/fleming.asp

    Twig.
  • Foulier than Thou
    Sorry -- this has been Snopes'd.

    Karma is awesome, but unfortunately, this story's a falsehood.

    :lol_wp: :lol_wp:
  • Imperiator
    But you believe in a cosmic jewish zombie who came back from the dead (you would be surprised at how many stories like that appeared before the jesus one and if you blame the devil I will slap the taste out of your mouth)
    karma is just to crazy for you though
  • Stupid is as Stupid does
    Boy, people on the internet are gullible saps...

    http://www.snopes.com/glurge/fleming.asp

    you should at least check out sources and Snopes is a good place to start for these type of stories. They almost always have them.

    Quit being morons...
  • mount ramparts
    nice story... but completely fictional.
  • God
    Kristarella: maybe this is proof that your God is false? After all, this is proof positive of karma in action, yet you say "as a Christian I don’t believe in karma"; ergo, you are wrong, Hinduism, Buddhism et al are right :)

    And I'm now going to have something bad happen for mocking your beliefs....meh, I think it was worth it!
  • @Kris
    i\'m a christian too and i do believe in karma. although in christianity, it just isn\'t called that -- there is a different interpretation to it. god blesses all who do good and you get pennants for each good thing you do in life -- the more good you do in life, the reward is going to heaven or maybe something good down the line in your lifetime. i believe that is some form of karma (although it may not be called that). it is a cool story. unfortunately, like some guys have pointed out it is a fictional story. didn\'t know about snopes, and may check out other myths.

    @twig & Foulier than Thou
    thanks for pointing out the site

    @Imperiator
    now i must say this, whatever you feel about religion -- keep it to yourself as people should be respected for their own beliefs, whatever they may be.

    @Stupid is as Stupid does
    gullible (on the internet) maybe but moron i don\'t think so. your comment shows your idiotic character just the way your statement was written.

    @mount ramparts
    yup found that out from some guys already at snopes

    @God
    everyone has the right to believe in their own version of God and his teachings. No one has the right to say that a God from another religion is false, right or wrong. Saying that, I don\'t think that this blog post should become a discussion for who is right or he is wrong nor do I want it to -- so, I\'m just going to leave it at that.
  • I'm a firm believer in karma, although I'm a christian and I think there's nothing wrong with it. The whole "what goes around, comes around"-thing is simply true if you look at everyday life.
    Too bad that the story is fictional, but it's nice :)

    Greets Julia
  • I wasn't going to respond here, but since someone else has joined in I will.
    Like I said before, I think "that wise decisions are not made in vain", that is in general wise decisions will lead to good consequences, unwise to bad. I also agree that there are rewards for things, maybe in this life or in heaven. However, "the reward is going to heaven or maybe something good down the line in your lifetime" I have to disagree with the first part of that. Nothing we do contributes to us getting to heaven (I'm reminded of Eph 2:8), perhaps there'll be a reward once we get there, but anything that implies we can work our way to heaven (apart from what Jesus has done) is unbiblical. Thus my aversion to the word "karma".
  • @Kris

    "Nothing we can do contributes to us getting to heaven" -- very true. I didn't really phrase that earlier statement to you correctly -- there is no guarantee you'll ever get a reward (like going to heaven) nor has there ever been promised one. I also didn't choose the right word in saying it is a reward, as reward is a crude way of saying that "I'll do good only to get something back and get into heaven" ... which is obviously not Christian like. I believe that one should do good because he wants to, not because he wants something in return. May need to think more about phrasing my words better in the future.

    I guess my interpretation of karma is that the good things you do when you are on earth MAY have an impact on your life but you shouldn't use karma as a way to get rewards and expect them. Whatever a person does to you no better how good or bad it is, is not for you to judge his destiny or fate nor can you alter it. God has a path for all of us and our life is already mapped out for each and every one of us -- it is up to us to follow that righteous path and not deviate from it.
  • Stupid is as Stupid does
    Moron was originally a scientific term, coined by psychologist Henry H. Goddard from a Greek word meaning "foolish"

    I personally think it somewhat appropriate to people that take Internet stories at face value. I had a fellow classmate in my senior year of college, 4 years ago, say that AIDS was a republican government conspiracy to wipe out gay people. He cited many Internet sites, though none credible, and obviously this site falls into the less credible sites.

    Also, the whole being Christian and not believing in Karma? What about Galatians 6:7 - "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap."
    That is the basis for what Karma is.
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