{"id":4908,"date":"2014-04-10T05:20:59","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T12:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=4908"},"modified":"2014-04-09T21:22:10","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T04:22:10","slug":"how-do-you-ruin-karma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=4908","title":{"rendered":"How do you ruin karma?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a hotel up the street from work that plants palm trees outside the building each Spring. Each Winter, they wrap the trees in insulation so they don’t die. Each Spring, they unwrap the dead trees and replace them with new ones. Portland, Oregon is not exactly a tropical paradise. We aren’t really designed for giant palm trees here.<\/p>\n

As I walked past the hotel this afternoon, I wondered a couple of things when I noticed that they’d just completed the annual palm tree replacement. For one thing, I wondered if trees have feelings. I don’t believe they do, but they could have some sort of tree feelings that humans can’t relate to. In a tree universe, maybe palm trees are considered the most sensitive and wise trees. Who knows.<\/p>\n

Then I wondered, as I often do, about the existence of Karma. Which I don’t believe in, but is always interesting to what if about. <\/p>\n

If trees have feelings, this place has a big Karmic debt accumulating. As well as a financial debt. It can’t be cheap to bring in cranes every year to plant 20 foot tall palm trees. Maybe they get a discount for being frequent purchasers. Or perhaps they have a subscription. Or a warranty. Anyway. IF Karma exists and IF trees have feelings, then the people responsible for the annual palm tree massacre are in BIG trouble when they get reincarnated. If, uh, reincarnation exists. Which I don’t think it does, but what if ?<\/p>\n

A lot of ifs, I grant you.
\nIfs are a specialty of this wondering wanderer. Certainly I’d rather what if about the feelings of trees than about my own feelings sometimes. <\/p>\n

Like now, for instance?<\/p>\n

Oh, never mind about that.<\/p>\n

Think of the trees…<\/p>\n

\"20140409-165113.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a hotel up the street from work that plants palm trees outside the building each Spring. Each Winter, they wrap the trees in insulation so they don’t die. Each Spring, they unwrap the dead trees and replace them with new ones. Portland, Oregon is not exactly a tropical paradise. We aren’t really designed … Continue reading How do you ruin karma?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/20140409-165113.jpg?fit=225%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-1ha","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3649,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=3649","url_meta":{"origin":4908,"position":0},"title":"The upside to early travel","author":"Michelle","date":"January 26, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Sunrise from the air, with the golden, peachy light behind Mt. 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When I stopped to listen for a minute, they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2879,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=2879","url_meta":{"origin":4908,"position":4},"title":"In which I am NOT one with everything","author":"Michelle","date":"December 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Keep your head up girl Keep your head up The sun ain't hard to see Just turn off your TV Everything around you Is just part of every other thing, I'm a tree --Imani Coppola\/I'm A Tree Just for the record, I am not a fucking tree. I am, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11266,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=11266","url_meta":{"origin":4908,"position":5},"title":"Spring? 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