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Journal SolemnDragon's Journal: Lent, anyone??? 32

Journal by SolemnDragon

Yes, my darlings, it's that time of year again. And once again, i did not make it to new orleans, which doesn't disappoint new orleans in the least, since the most they'd be likely to see is the flash of a well-turned ankle and the top of a parasol. I brick for sparklies. It doesn't make you popular with the boys, but you get to carry home all the beads and keep your top on.

So... what am i giving up for Lent??

Well, i thought about it. Last year it was chocolate. Since i've done that, i'm looking for other ideas this year.

Turns out, there's not a lot that i do repetitively. I could give up computer games, but they've been oddly helpful in dealing with the aftereffects and emotional disturbance. I process what i work on in therapy.

I could still give them up. I dunno. I could give up TV but it would be easy since the remote's been lost for a month. I could give up eating meat, since i'm a vegetarian... i could give up gratutious violence, i suppose. Wicked may have to give up firebombing. Heh. I'd like to see the person brave enough to try to take that away from her... or at least i'd like to see their charred remains, whenever she's done with them...

I'm thinking i may have to give up slashdotting at work, for one thing.

Any ideas? Any plans?

This discussion was created by SolemnDragon (593956) for no Foes, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Lent, anyone??? More

Lent, anyone???

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  • A friend (who is more attached to the Bible than I am :-)) is taking daily time to read from a specific book of the Bible that is her father's favorite. The intent is either to write to him or discuss it with him. What she is giving up is time spent on other things.

    I'm looking for something that will improve either the world or me, and then I'm going to figure out what I can sacrifice to make time for it.

    • I have to agree with JD3.

      Self denial can lead to a positive spiritual experience. But it is only one path.

      Any action, no matter how large or small, that helps you emulate Christ (even if you don't beleive in Him) is suitable.

      For instance, take the 40 days and clean your apartment. Take the clothes that don't fit and excess household goods and give them to a shelter.

      But also, as you clean, examine the things in your life. Many of them will have an association with some person from your life. As e

  • I gave up Catholicism in '76... never went back
    • hey, i was born in... oh, right.

      (In short, you threw away religion when the dragon was born.

      'soke, daddy. You certainly weren't the only one.)

      This year, i say we give up our neighbours for lent. To the flames. And then we go see Mardi Gras.

      • I have one memory from MG. Standing ankle deep in vomit.
        • I can honestly say that's a memory I never wish to forge. Not even an image I want to picture really.
        • I have a friend that lives down in New Orleans, works at the Tulane University medical center. He was telling me basically after the last night of MG everyone clears the streets and the city basically comes through and just sprays everything down into the sewers and considers the area clean. Kind of reminds me of clean up at Busch Gardens when I workd there.
  • Every time I wash my clothes, I give up small bits of them for lint. It isn't really a decision I made, just the way it works I guess.

    Now seriously. Let me preface with the statement that you may wish to confer with others, as while I have a curiosity about religion, I am neither an authority nor religious myself. However, last I checked (a while ago) giving something up for lent is only customary and not a requirement of faith. It is meant almost solely to remind people not to indulge too much. Giving some

    • heh.

      As a bit of background, let's specify that i'm not catholic. In fact, i'm pagan.

      I just happen to like lent.

      I like the theme of repentance, and being mindful of salvation. I like the idea of giving something up for forty days to wander in the desert and hear the voice of god more clearly. I think it does me good to give things up on occasion.

      In short, i just think it's a good idea, and i encourage people to try it.

      Even if you just fast from one pagan feast to the next, as BestFried is doing. She's g
      • as
        BestFried is doing.
        Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
      • Ah, sorry, hard to keep straight who's what all over. Lent being typically Christian, yeah. Oh well, I probably knew and forgot.

        Still, my point stands, I think. Just because giving up something is good for mindfulness and focus on the importance of things, it doesn't mean that it's a requirement for it. If there's nothing a person is indulging in, giving up something that doesn't matter is hardly the sort of statement that is the point of the observence. Perhaps finding balance may be a better way of being

  • You know, all those comfy, safe, dragon clothes?

    Give 'em up. Dress like the person you want to be in 3 years.

    This will have the added bonus of you needing to go clothes shopping more often. It would pain me greatly to have to accompany you on such trips. :)

    • Actually this ties into my first thought when I read your question. You've been removing excessive clutter from your life, slowly but surely. Pick something that you've been resisting giving up and just make the decision to be done with it.
  • Your boy was raised a Lutheran: the first among equals! Actually, your boy's paternal side was Catholic but his father was disinterested with it as long as your boy's been around.

    Really non-praticing anyway. Just your regular godless American.
  • i honestly don't know what i'd give up. i mean, i kinda did that anyway, and all the stuff i've given up has lasted a bit longer than 40 days. hmmmph. live like a monk much? hehehe

    i do have my addictions i suppose, but they are positive. and i wouldn't dare consider giving them up. they mean too much to me.

    so, perhaps for lent maybe what i give up will be something like "i will give up beating myself up."

    now that's something i could live without and perhaps this upcoming 40 days will give me the taste fo
  • I gave up eating out. I decided to live the life of a person who cannot afford to eat out. For me, this is what lent is really about, sacrificing something so you can be closer to what the Christians refer to as God. One way to do this is to live like the poor, to really learn something about those for whom Christ asked his followers to be mindful.

    It is VERY important, I think, not to give something up for self-improvement purposes. A lot of people give up smoking, or chocolate, or something else seeki
    • giving up chocolate was HARD.

      i gave up chocolate and it made me a better person, but i gave it up because i lIKED chocolate.

      *sigh*

      i have to do that with my food anyway.

      Hey, congratulations on that vegetarian thing. Not that you need them, but you get them anyway, just as you would for any other habit that didn't hurt people that you were thinking to take up, like playing checkers or learning to use a pogo stick or deciding to sidewalk-chalk your way to East St. Louis.

      I'm staying with the eggs and what
  • I've lent things in other years and never seen them again, so I guess I've given them up. But I haven't lent anything this year.

    Waitaminnit, what are we talking about?

  • ...you could give up brick throwing. Or fire breathing...

    I don't observe Lent so I'm not giving anything up. I've been good about my quasi-New Year's Resolution of giving up potato chips/crisps, tortilla chips, etc. though. I wonder when I'll fall off the wagon...

  • I'm giving up... GRRRRRRRRRRR! Coffee and Soda Pop.

    Yes, I will be a mean bastard for the first week, but after that it's all bunny rabbits and rainbows.
  • I'm thinking of giving up Slashdotting, at least for a while. Mostly because i'm tired of it (again). I'm not really religious, so Lent doesn't have much to do with this -- but it's as good a timeframe as any other, so i might participate as an outside support group.

    If i decide to do this, i'll probably start tomorrow by taking part in Troll Tuesday festivities (TT is tomorrow, right?), which will, presumably, get me banned from posting, making it easier to keep away from here.

  • My bro's pagan, raised Catholic though. I think the first thing he did was give up Lent. Drives my Mom nuts, but hey that's what are kids are for.

    I haven't been big on Lent either. Why does God care about eating beef on Fridays? Isn't there some bigger issue out there he could want addressed? How about instead of the whole 40 days thing, people could do 40 hours of Community service or something?

    What's amazing to me is that you're going to hell if you eat meat, unless March 17th falls on a friday, t
    • No way, baby! I'm old school- no sundays off!!! No snacks between meals!

      The point isn't to do it for god. The point is to do it to get closer to god.

      God, i'm told, really likes that.

      I'm already a vegetarian, so i've got the whole dispensation thing rendered useless in advance.

      Maybe i'll give up the gratuitious use of violence? /nah. Never happen.
  • give up sushi.
  • Put an axe through it instead. Nothying like repudiation for bringing up your spirits.
    (Been internetless for... a week? Wow, catching up.)

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