The Illusion of Karma

We live in a world where evil takes forms that defy comprehension. There are images that no one should ever have to see - of babies, helpless and small, chained, tortured, violated.

These children, some as young as one, two, or three years old, are bound with chains. They are victims of brutal abuse: needles in their genitals, electrodes on their bodies, studded collars around their necks. Their bodies are irreparably damaged by adults who use sex toys or other horrific objects to violate their fragile beings. Thousands of such images circulate in dark corners of the internet.

What we know of this, we owe to courageous journalists like Laurence Beneux and Serge Garde. They have seen what most people wouldn't survive witnessing. And what they saw forces us to ask a single question: Is this karma?

Can we really imagine that such innocent souls somehow "deserved" this pain? That in a previous life, they did something to warrant this suffering as some sort of lesson or punishment? That idea isn't just heartless - it's a moral abyss. It suggests these children are not only victims of sadistic violence, but complicit in their fate. As though their suffering is justified. As though the universe watches on, nodding in approval.

That kind of thinking brings no comfort. It's an escape. An excuse to do nothing.

Take the story of Carol and James Sumner - two gentle people in their sixties, physically frail but with open hearts. They opened their door to someone who seemed kind. What followed was a nightmare: attacked, stuffed into the trunk of a car with duct tape, robbed - and eventually buried alive. In their final moments, they held hands.

Was this karma too?

Or was it simply evil doing what it does, because no one stopped it in time?

The problem isn't that the universe is out of balance. The problem is that we are. Because we look away. Because we reduce evil to philosophy. Because we strip victims of their innocence in the name of "spiritual balance."

'Karma' is too often used as a softener - a balm that doesn't take pain away, but merely covers it up. An excuse to shift responsibility to unseen forces, when the real answer is far simpler: it lies with us.

Society is not a bystander. We are the neighbors, the parents, the colleagues who notice something but don't always dare to ask. Evil doesn't thrive in a vacuum. It grows where no one pays attention. Where no one speaks. Where no one intervenes.

No child deserves abuse. No elderly couple deserves a violent death. And no human being deserves to be told their suffering is part of some cosmic plan.

Our task is not to explain fate, but to act. To keep our eyes open. To name the truth and stop the evil. Justice isn't a mystical balance sheet - it's a decision, made again and again, each day.

Those who see pain must speak. Those who witness violence must intervene. Those who live must choose: empathy, or distance. There is no neutral ground.

We don't need karma to explain evil. We need courage to stop it. Evil exists, but our bravery and compassion are stronger.

Every act of love is a triumph over the darkness.