Born On A Cusp

FrenchBeard and I are convinced that The Amazing Race has a lot of lessons to teach people on how to be more decent human beings. Our top three:

Karma. However you wish to call it — You reap what you sow, What goes around, comes around, What you give off, you get back — karma works. It just does. And often, the show’s racers have had to learn this the hard way. And when it does come around, they are the first to utter the words: “Karma hit us, man!” Then they begin to send off more positive vibes to the Universe, and stop stealing other team’s taxis or speaking ill of competitors or showing disrespect to ‘ordinary’ people.

Que sera sera. What will be, will be. In all the show’s seasons that we’ve seen, one of the biggest lessons has always been that sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just don’t know what’s going to happen next. You could be the most physically agile, and the smartest with map-reading, and you set out on the confusing streets of Lithuania to do the Roadblock convinced you’ll be the first to step on the Pit Stop mat — but then your cab runs out of petrol and of course decides to make a 5-minute stopover, quickly changing your fortune and that of the team behind you. What else could you do?

Be kind. Not be a doormat that people can step over, but, be kind. Do not barge into a local market in Kenya and, without regard for any other, holler, ‘Does anybody speak English!?!?!’ If there were shoppers right then who in fact knew English, it shouldn’t surprise you that they’d choose to ignore you instead of dignifying your queenly demand. And kindness is not only for people, but for other beings too. Do not cuss the donkey and slap his ass if he chooses to stop for a slow munch of the lovely hay instead of helping you win your million dollars by carrying your haul onto the finish line. That donkey has a soul, too, and should be treated as such. In the end, kindness does pay, and brings us back to the lesson of karma.