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A while back, I gave up Jesus for Lent, and then extended Lent indefinitely.
Disclaimer: I'm not religious or Christian, but I believe the occasional temporary "giving up" of things is good for a person. For me, Lent is just a convenient, structured time period to use for such a practice. Things I should give up: inebriatants (up to&incl nicotine, alcohol) Things I will probably give up:
Been thinking about takeout. I've developed a bad habit of ordering delivery while working on classwork, too lazy too cook. I've also resolved to give more to the people I pass flying signs. We'll see; I'm not good about carrying cash. To me, the charity part of Lent is as important as the more popular abstinence. Abstinence helps with inward character; charity, with outward actions.Almsgiving helps us to experience giving freely, which leads to freedom from the obsession of possessing, from the fear of losing what we have, from the sadness of one who does not wish to share his wealth with others. —Pope Francis
Lent intersected with Ramadan once. It was crazy to me in high school how many people in my school bitched about not getting chocolate. Chocolate. Meanwhile I'm taking an IB Psych exam at 1 PM and the last meal I had was cereal at 3AM. Fucking talk to me about chocolate.
Never had that situation as I only fast when at home. When everyone does it, its just normal. But the teachers were lenient during Ramadan. 30 minute classes instead of 45 minutes. No exams during the time. I was happy it was this way. During the day it was so hot that you could not do anything besides wait until the afternoon. Then go buy the last groceries needed for the epic meal that is about to happen. After food you were done. Stuffed, full, as if the food was escaping through your ears. And then start studying? nope
My wife's mother is a chocolate addict. She goes through chocolate the way chain smokers go through Marlboros. In the course of attempting to find coffee filters in her kitchen, I turned up eleven bags of chocolate - truffles, Frangos, After 8 mints, peanut butter cups, miniatures, you name it. It is safe to say that in her 64 square foot kitchen there is approximately three cubic feet of chocolate interspersed through it like marbling in a steak. Yet every year, she dramatically gives up sweets for Lent. No chocolate. No sugar. No dessert. Nothing. My wife's birthday is March 5. So every year, any cake that is made is resented by her mother, who has given up sugar for Lent, and why can't we all be more understanding? And then she buys eleven metric tons of chocolate the day after easter and proceeds to eat it like Spam in a survival shelter. Fuck everything about Lent.
She's doing it wrong. Lent is about abstaining to increase empathy. Not to fast, binge, self-pity, and guilt trip. I refuse to let bad people ruin a good thing. Lent is good. Some people are bad. Such is life. I wish I could eat chocolate like that. She must have the metabolism of a ferret, or the size of a small moon.Fuck everything about Lent.
She goes through chocolate the way chain smokers go through Marlboros.
I just need to let you know that this analogy is amazing.It is safe to say that in her 64 square foot kitchen there is approximately three cubic feet of chocolate interspersed through it like marbling in a steak.
Her kitchen is amazing. She's a 5 on the hoarder scale, yet positively fastidious. For reasons I've never truly understood, they refuse to pay for garbage service, which means they pretty much polish their refuse because it's gotta sit until they feel like making a dump run. So there are lots of boxes of cans and things everywhere, as well as a lifetime's accumulation of coffee mugs &c. There is also no dishwasher and a lack of cabinet space so every square inch has something on it - all of it clean, all of it tidy, all of it organized by a not-entirely-human-parsable method. And every fourth item is chocolate.
Fuck everything about your wife's mom, more than Lent, really. I don't think there's anything wrong, and potentially a great deal of good, that can come from giving up an enjoyable habit or an enjoyable-but-negative behavior for a predetermined, finite period of time. For those with really bad habits it allows them to see a "light at the end of the tunnel" where it's easier to quit in the short-term because they know they can go back to it in the long-term. Sometimes, people will choose to stay quit after they get 30 or 40 (in the case of Lent) days of abstinence under their belt. I don't think there's even anything that wrong about mildly complaining about how you miss what you've given up, for a while. It's not your wife's fault when her birthday is and it's not like her mother is oblivious to that date either. Is your wife not supposed to celebrate her birthday because her mother's giving something up? (Well excuuuuuuuse me, Ms. klein's-mother-in-law.) It's not even like there won't be plenty of cakes for MIL to eat after the end of Lent. If I choose to make a lifestyle change, small or large, temporary or permanent, I can't expect everyone else to accommodate me by hiding my poor delicate feelings from other behaviors. Not even my family. Your MIL is silly. At best.
Nothing. altho I've been seriously considering going on a 3 day fast since reading all the testimonials on Hubski. I'll wait for midterms to be over and if I don't get the flu I might do that on my week off school. Honestly, the only reason I'm hesitating is that my parents will probably get seriously annoying if I don't eat. I don't think they'll understand. I bet my mom will nag at me until I give up.
I am going to give up feeling negative. That should be easy.
Half my family is Lutheran, and they do, then complain about it a lot. The Episcopalians I've known do too. So at least the protestant sects who stayed close to catholicism do it. By the time I was old enough to be expected to participate I was also old enough to know I wanted nothing to do with religion, so I've never actually done the lent thing myself.
Even when I was a practicing Catholic, I wasn't into Lent. I don't think I ever once completed a full 40 day fast, if I gave up anything at all.