The other night Cory came home talking about some people at work and what they have committed to giving up for Lent. Lent started this year on February 17th (Ash Wednesday), goes until Easter, and excludes Sundays, totaling 40 days of observance. It begs the question, what would you be willing to give up for 40 days? Lent isn’t something that my religion practices, but I’d like to think if we did observe it I would be really brave about it. I hear a lot about people giving up chocolate during Lent. I don’t think I would do that for a couple of reasons. One, it’s too cliché and I think I’d want to appear holier than everyone else by doing something that nobody else was doing and prove that I was really thinking outside the box. Also, chocolate is too much a part of me. Would you ask Tim McGraw to give up his cowboy hat? Or tell Bono to lose the sunglasses? Or ask Snooki to remove her Bump-It? I DON’T THINK SO. And don’t try to tell me that there’s a difference between the vice of chocolate and wearing a simple pair of sunglasses – we all know Bono is hiding something. At any rate, as I thought about what I COULD do if I was a Lent observing Christian and wanted to show my commitment, I found that most things fell into one of two categories: Stuff I would never give up, and Stuff I could EASILY give up.
STUFF I WOULD NEVER GIVE UP – Toilet paper and chap stick. That’s pretty much it. Incidentally, this is also the reason I have never applied for Survivor.
STUFF I COULD EASILY GIVE UP:
1. Museums. I want to say that I love them because I think it would make me sound smarter, but I just don’t have it in me. The only thing that’s probably more boring than going to a museum is thinking about going to a museum. If someone asks, "I'm thinking about going to a museum, wanna come?" what I hear is, "I'm thinking about reading all of the encyclopedias on microbiology while listening to Enya, wanna come?" The only thing worse than that was when my best friend’s Dad used to say to me when we were little, “Hey Vern, come here! I wanna show you these slides from our trip!”
2. Fish. I really want to like fish, what with all the chatter that goes around about how good it is for you. Protein! Omega 3 fatty acids! Can we digress here for a second to talk about the “fatty acids”? I don’t even really know what they are, but could there be a worse thing to call something that is actually GOOD for you? That’s like calling someone a HUGE PIG and being like, “No REALLY! It’s a COMPLIMENT!” Fatty acids. Is that like getting on a roller coaster called “THE SUICIDE BOMBER” and having people try to assure you, “It’s kinda crazy at first, but once you get on you’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh! I’ve never had more fun in my life!’” Where was I? Oh yeah, I don’t like fish.
3. Submarine travel. I know it sounds nutty, but I think I could live without it - and not even just for the 40 days.
4. Giving up on the idea that I will ever be able to fit in my wedding dress ever again. I might even have a head start on this one, because I sort of gave up on this idea ever since my goal weight became the same as what I weighed at 6 months gestation with my pregnancies.
I’m pretty sure I’ve missed the whole message and intention of what Lent is really about, but still. I think I make some pretty good points.
12 comments:
Right now, I'm just thinking it's good your not Catholic. Lent - yes, but also fish every Friday during Lent. (Growing up in NY, the school cafeteria served only fish on Friday's during lent. I think that was about the time I started opting for cookies for lunch.)
So much for giving up fish for Lent.
I think you should give up lotion.
We live in a predominantly Catholic area (Boston--hard to get more Catholic than that in the US) and a couple of years ago my daughter asked why we don't celebrate Lent. I loved my husband's response:
"We're Mormon. For us, every day is Lent."
I think I would give up snow.
I know it would be really difficult not to be able to look forward to shoveling my driveway and sliding on the roads. It would be a great sacrifice, but I think I could try it.
(Guess who woke up to 3" of the white stuff on their front lawn this morning? ............grumble, grumble)
These are kinda like my new years resolutions each January. Goals you can reward yourself with for just being yourself. Awesomeness.
I suppose I could give up on off the wall comments but than off the wall is really who I am.
You are already so HOLY I'm not sure you even need Lent to get the point across. But, hey, if you need something to pass the time...
I could not give up the collection of scary pictures that I have of you...just waiting for the right moment
grapers: SO HELP ME I know where you live!
Ugh. Giving up sugar for Lent. Again. Why? Why do I do this to myself?
I was persuaded by a friend to give up sugar for Lent this year, I've never done it before but thought it would be a fun test of will power. After the first couple of weeks it got fairly easy and it's helped me lose some extra weight that I wanted to.
But I'm really looking forward to dessert in a couple of weeks.
I decided last year (or was it the year before) to give up something for Lent, along with my Catholic friends. I gave up drinking soda. Longest. Forty. Days. Ever. But by the end of it I noticed that I didn't really miss it terribly. Granted, once I'd been drinking it again for a week or two, the addiction was back in full swing.
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