Karma refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect, where actions, works, or deeds determine future outcomes. Good fortune and happiness are achieved through good intentions, while evil deeds and malicious intent lead to negative consequences. The principle of Karma has appeared in many ideologies and regions worldwide and remains prominent today, even on social media platforms like Reddit. The concept of Karma can be summed up as “what goes around comes around.” Here are 11 examples of Karma in action that will make you believe in its power.

11 Spammer Alan Ralsky was flooded with junk mail in retaliation.

In 2002, after a local article highlighted the lavish lifestyle of Alan Ralsky, known as the “spam king” for sending millions of bulk email solicitations, critics discovered his physical address and signed him up for numerous advertising mailing lists and free catalogs. As a result, he was inundated with unwanted mail, receiving hundreds of pounds of it daily at the peak.

10 China attempted to kill off their local sparrow population to increase rice yields, but instead, killing sparrows decreased rice yields by increasing the locust population and at least 20 million people died of starvation as a result.

In 1958, at the beginning of the Great Leap Forward, China initiated the Great Sparrow Campaign (A.K.A. Kill a Sparrow Campaign or the Four Pests campaign officially). The efforts’ main goal was to eliminate rats, flies, mosquitoes, and sparrows as they were unhygienic and ate (specifically the sparrow) grain seeds, but the sparrow extermination resulted in a ecological unbalance that multiplied the number of crop-eating insects.

The Chinese community mobilized together to eradicate the birds, scaring the birds into landing, and forcing them to fall from the sky due to exhaustion. Once they fell they were killed and any remaining nests, eggs or chicks would be killed as well. Citizens were rewarded and recognized for the amount of pests they eliminated.

The incident  had the reverse effect that leaders didn’t initially hope for. They realized the sparrows were responsible for consuming the majority of the pests causing the loss of rice grain and ordered that the campaign against sparrows to be ended. However, by then it was too late, the locust population continued to increase, adding to the already devastating Great Chinese Famine that resulted in the death of 20 million people. (source)

9 After being kicked by a driver, a stray dog returned with a bunch of his friends and proceeded to trash the car by chewing up the fenders and wipers.

After a man kicked a dog out of his parking spot in China, the dog came back with his pack and destroyed the man’s car by chewing the fenders, bumpers, and wipers.

The driver’s neighbour informed him of the dog’s revenge and managed to take a few photos from the incident.(source)

8 After terrorizing an interracial couple, white supremacist and racist Craig Cobb agreed to taking a DNA test that revealed he was 14% black.

In 2013, Cobb was featured on the Trisha Goddard Show where he was confronted with an interracial couple who felt like their lives were being disrupted by Craig. That November Cobb agreed to take a DNA test that revealed he was 14% Sub-Saharan African. Cobb rejected the findings as “statistical noise” and conducted a separate DNA test that found him to have 3% of an “Iberian thing.” (source)

7  The Soviet military trained dogs to perform kamikaze-style suicide bombings on the battlefield. In fear, the dogs retreated back to their trenches killing their own soldiers.

Anti-tank dogs were K9s and they were trained to transport explosives to tanks, armored vehicles, and other various targets. They were trained between 1930 and 1996 by Russian and Soviet military forces. The routine was meant to have the dogs to drop the bombs and then retreat back to base while the bomb detonated, but after many failures, the routine was replaced by impact detonation, which resulted in the dogs death. Iraqi insurgents also tried to implement this tactic in the 2000s.

The efficiency of tank dogs has been debated over the decades. The first group deployed revealed that the tactic had many problems as many of the dogs that were released would retreat back to the trenches which resulted in killing their own soldiers once detonated. People who openly criticized the program were persecuted by military counterintelligence. (source)

6 In 2011, a doctor was saved by a man whose life he saved over 30 years ago.

After saving the life of a premature baby over 30+ years ago, Dr. Michael Shannon had the favor returned when he found himself trapped in a burning car after an accident in 2011. One of the fire fighters that freed the injured doctor happened to be that same child, Chris Trokey. It took Dr. Shannon more than 40 days to recover from internal injuries and after the 45th day he realized who it was that saved him.

Trokey was born weighing only 3.2 pounds (1.5 kilograms) and was given a 50% chance of surviving when Dr. Shannon fought to save his life. After reuniting with the young hero, Dr. Shannon stated that “It’s amazing to watch them all grow up, but to have one come back in your life, on a day you really need it, that’s really incredible.” (source)