I Give Up

It’s no secret that I sometimes crowdsource to solicit column ideas, as coming up with a weekly topic can be challenging at times. So when I recently polled friends about subject matter, a good friend suggested writing about things I would consider giving up for Lent if I was any sort of practicing Christian.

This friend is somewhat of an expert in the religion arena, as he is in the process of converting to Catholicism — a plunge he decided to take because his current love is a member of the Catholic Church. (This is a bit of a pattern for him. A former love of his was Mormon, so he also converted to Mormonism at one point.) While I admire his passion and commitment, I have let him know that simply attending mass is also an option.

Anyway, he gave me a column topic, so I thanked him. And his newfound Catholicism.

Let me be honest with you, I don’t participate in organized religion for many reasons, the least of which is this practice of giving up something for Lent. Even without Lent, you have to sacrifice a number of things to belong. You have to give up sin and leisurely Sunday mornings, which, frankly, are two of my very favorite things. And if you ever do venture into a house of worship, you have to give up doing so anonymously. There are always several people wanting to give you the sign of peace and God forbid, greet you as you file out of the building.

If I wanted to have a bunch of strangers touching me, it would be in a much different venue. That had much better lighting. And drink specials.

Some Internet research (an oxymoron) informed me the top 10 things people give up during these 40 days each year include alcohol, sweets, Facebook, cursing, television, junk food, soda, smoking, texting and gossiping. And my questions are these: If you are (presumably) already religious and buying into this idea of Lent, what are you doing gossiping in the first place, judge not lest ye be judged-ers? And how about treating your body like a temple always by avoiding junk food, soda, sweets and smoking? Forty days doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice if you are consuming all of this junk the remaining 325 days of the year.

Perhaps because , I wouldn’t even know what to give up if I was religious and tried to think of something I could hypothetically sacrifice during Lent.

Heaven knows, I'm not willing to give up the leisurely Sunday mornings or the sin.

And let me be perfectly clear on this: I am not foolish enough to ever give up dodging the lightning bolt.