It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

We’re now a few days into Lent, which my childhood knowledge of its observation can be summed up as “something Catholics do.” Now that I’m older and have a more, shall we say – nuanced – understanding, for the past few years I’ve been thinking about what I would give up to give me something to reflect on for 40 days – as that’s how I’ve chosen to think of observing Lent.

Then over in the Jewish tradition is a day where you have to atone for your sins by apologizing to everyone you’ve done wrong in the past year (which I may have completely misinterpreted, too). That’s pretty impressive – and intimidating.

So maybe what I’ll do next year, if I get up the courage, is to do a theological mashup with “40 Days of Atonement.” Then I could cover all the stuff I’ve done over the years that I still feel bad about.

I was pretty obnoxious for a really long time. That would totally take more than one day.