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Relations and us

While browsing through some facebook links today, I suddenly saw that some friends I have recently made were there as friends of friends of mine from college. And it hit me again, what a small world this is!
The concept of karma in buddhism (somewhat similar to karma from hinduism) explains the significance of people we encounter in this life time. People whom we love, form relationships with, even people we hate and want to have nothing to do with. Just think about it: the boss in office we can't get along with, the stuck relationship that just doesn't work, the friend who was once so close but now is distant, the parent with whom we cannot mesh, the teacher in college we hated.....the list can be endless (more you age, as I am finding out, more it grows). So even the person tormenting us the most in this life might be doing it coz we might have done the same to him/her in a past life!
Phew, such thinking actually makes the mind boggle a bit. How am I supposed to be responsible for what I did in the past? Am I suposed to keep suffering for eternity for something that is done with and NOW cannot be changed?
If we introspect deeply though, we start realizing that almost all people and the nature of relationships we form with them are in a sense a mirror of a lot of things that exist within us at a sub - concious level. When I am in my fun and outgoing mood, there are certain friends that are fun to be with. But the same friends might not be the one's to go to if I am down and out in life. For that, I might have another set of "closer" friends with whom I feel "comfortable". Reason I am putting in quotes is that we dont really understand why we feel close to or feel comfortable with a certain set of people. And even such relationships keep changing as we change in life.
So what I am driving at is that the same boss we hate working with, might turn out to be a great friend outside office. And the greatest love of our life might drive us crazy if we had to work "under" them. So then is it fair to judge people and categorize them based on how we "feel" while interacting with them in whatever role they come accross in our life?
So maybe therein lies the key. If I can relate to humans as humans while keeping in mind that we are all vulnerable, we all have our weaknesses, our quirks. But beneath it all, we are all "similar" creatures who feel pain, hurt, need love and caring. So instead of running away from people whom we have encountered in our life, with the hope that we will find happiness when we encounter the right set of people, maybe we should take a broader view, keep reminding ourselves that fundamentally humans are the same wherever you go and learn to form deep bonds with people around us based on mutual respect!

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