“How people treat you is their karma. How you react is yours.”
Wayne Dyer’s words are such a great reminder that the karma highway has two lanes. Sometimes when we have been wronged we feel justified in having a (re)action that is equal to the action leveled against us. This is the adult version of what we do as children to justify a misstep. Can’t you remember getting caught in the (re)act and saying to your mother, ‘but mom, (insert name here) started it’ ? In my childhood this statement never got me very far, and now each of my three children experience this same reaction from me. That ages old disclaimer typically holds no weight with a parent and the penalty given always fits the crime regardless of who started the skirmish.
We always have a choice when we are wronged. We can (re)act or we can reconsider. Reconsidering will always take us farther than (re)acting. It can help to think of it this way: no matter our age, we are all children of the universe, and before we can even get the,”…but (insert name here) was the one who started it'” thought out into the ethers, Karma is standing behind us shaking her head and giving us the look that we all know so well. And of course according to tradition the punishment is going to fit the crime. Perfectly.