Keller @ Large: Do You Believe In Karma?

BOSTON (CBS) - Do you believe in karma, the ancient concept that your actions and intentions come back to either help you or haunt you later in life? That, in other words, what goes around comes around?

I do.

You can see it happening right now in the NFL, where the two most aggressive proponents of the Deflategate smear against the Patriots are off to stumbling starts, others are suffering from injuries, all while the Pats are cruising.

It just doesn't pay to be a bitter, jealous loser trying to get even with failed witchhunts.

Karma doesn't always manifest itself as quickly and profoundly. In politics, the dirtiest mud-slingers sometimes have great success for awhile. Lies can be gotten away with, demagoguery rewarded.

Then again, there are enough examples of bad karmic payback to give you hope. Richard Nixon was one. Donald Trump may soon regret his love of the superficial insult. Ask the head of Planned Parenthood if she wishes some of her staffers hadn't used crude, insensitive language to describe some of their medical procedures.

Let's be honest, it can be gratifying to see karma in action. High school reunion season is coming up, and who among us doesn't get a kick out of seeing how much better you turned out than the obnoxious big man on campus from back in the day?

But karma should also be a warning to all of us to heed the golden rule that Pope Francis reminded us of last week, to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Follow that rule, and chances are good you will wind up on the Patriots' side of karma down the road.

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