Quid Pro ... No!

Does God have some kind of a reciprocal arrangement with us?

There's a cartoon that shows a man and woman at a table in a seafood restaurant, both with a plate of food in front of them. The man is saying to the woman, "I'll give you a bite of my calamari for one of your stuffed shrimp." And the caption below says "Squid pro quo."

Okay, it's funny, but not ha-ha funny. Still, it's funnier than trying to explain the meaning of quid pro quo -- a Latin phrase meaning "something for something." You probably already knew that. And, even if you didn't know it, you understand the concept: You do this for me and in exchange, I'll do that for you. There are also common expressions such as "tit for tat," "give and take" and "You scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours" that all mean the same thing.

QPQ is essentially the basis of commerce. I give you $5; you give me a Mac-n-Cheese. It's also the basis of bartering among neighbors: You fix my carburetor, and I'll fix your leaky faucet. And, of course, it's rampant in politics, where QPQ is the expectation...