Lent is about making sacrifices
Michelle Chalkey
Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: Opinion
For six weeks of the year, the Catholic religion calls for people to make sacrifices. Whether it be giving up a favorite food or committing to do service work, these acts of sacrifice are meant to help us break bad habits or start making good ones. The season of Lent is a time of fasting and penitence. It begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts forty weekdays until Easter. On Fridays, you are supposed to eat three meatless meals, two of them being smaller, without snacking in between. Behind the big reasons for sacrificing, Lent is calling for people to change their eating habits. I think it's funny that food is what everybody is so passionate about. Most people find it challenging to adapt to meatless Fridays or to give up a favorite food for Lent.
What I can't stand is that people come up with countless excuses to cheat during these six weeks. There's the common belief among those who aren't committed enough that it is okay to indulge in your sacrificed item on Sundays. Since Lent is technically just forty days, they see the six Sundays as free days. In reality, Sunday is the holiest day of the week. Shouldn't we be even more committed on Sundays? Others tend to ignore the rule of meatless Fridays. It's only one day of the week! It's not that hard. Then, once Easter comes around people go hog wild eating tons of candy or drinking all the pop they missed out on during Lent. It's like they were just abstaining because they had to instead of trying to actually better themselves and break their habit.
I think six weeks of sacrifice is a good thing for all people. Even for those who aren't Catholic, it wouldn't hurt to give up something for a while. Although Lent is a season of sacrifice, I see it as an opportunity to make an area of your life better.
Many people have addictions to something that isn't good for them. Everybody has some vice item they wish they could live without. For some it may be ice cream, candy or even alcohol. Giving up that item for just a short six weeks can help you give it up forever. For me, pop was an addiction. I used to drink Diet Coke for breakfast and have three more cans later on in the day. I loved my Diet Coke, but I knew it wasn't good for me. Three years ago I gave it up for Lent, and now it doesn't have the same appealing taste as it did before. Six weeks without pop helped me lose my craving for it.
What I can't stand is that people come up with countless excuses to cheat during these six weeks. There's the common belief among those who aren't committed enough that it is okay to indulge in your sacrificed item on Sundays. Since Lent is technically just forty days, they see the six Sundays as free days. In reality, Sunday is the holiest day of the week. Shouldn't we be even more committed on Sundays? Others tend to ignore the rule of meatless Fridays. It's only one day of the week! It's not that hard. Then, once Easter comes around people go hog wild eating tons of candy or drinking all the pop they missed out on during Lent. It's like they were just abstaining because they had to instead of trying to actually better themselves and break their habit.
I think six weeks of sacrifice is a good thing for all people. Even for those who aren't Catholic, it wouldn't hurt to give up something for a while. Although Lent is a season of sacrifice, I see it as an opportunity to make an area of your life better.
Many people have addictions to something that isn't good for them. Everybody has some vice item they wish they could live without. For some it may be ice cream, candy or even alcohol. Giving up that item for just a short six weeks can help you give it up forever. For me, pop was an addiction. I used to drink Diet Coke for breakfast and have three more cans later on in the day. I loved my Diet Coke, but I knew it wasn't good for me. Three years ago I gave it up for Lent, and now it doesn't have the same appealing taste as it did before. Six weeks without pop helped me lose my craving for it.
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