Seeking Justice vs Letting Go, in Three Acts. Act III: Karma's A Bitch

In a recent Planet Money podcast, Adam Davidson and David Kestenbaum discussed how in India these days, there are a handful of billionaires, and 400,000,000 people who live without electricity. David interviewed a 75-year old cobbler, Umrao Singh, who makes about $2/day -- a good wage, relative to what some make in India -- which means, typically, little to no schooling for your children, a ramshackle handmade shack, no running water, no electricity, no health care, and basically

". . . very little hope that you or anyone in your family will ever get out of poverty any time soon . . . . [you] spend your entire life trying to be one step ahead of hunger and disease . . . and [dream of] owning a piece of plastic sheeting to help keep out the rain." 

They asked Umrao about what he thought about this. His response? 

"This is my life. This is karma. There is nothing I can do about it, it is all written. There are people five minutes from where I am sitting that make 200,000 rupees a month. But what is written, is written, you cannot change it . . . Nothing is missing . . . this is what is written for me. I am content."

Of course, after Umrao said this, a friend pointed out that Umrao had said that in his next life, he wanted to be born into those fancy apartments across the street.

In a related incident, I was listening to a Zencast by Robina Courtin, who said something along the lines of**

It is foolish to be upset if someone punches you in the nose, because karma explains why you were punched; you basically punched yourself in the nose, you can't blame the person that punched you.

So, you know, karma is basically an angel . . .

** She uses almost those exact words ("punching yourself in the nose") in a Zencast that I cannot find, but the linked talk expresses similar sentiments.