THE CARROLL NEWS: 

Lo Castro's Lowdown: Pledging Allegiance to the Lenten Season
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Jenna Lo Castro on 13 March, 2008 01:15:00
 
When I hear the phrase, 40 days and 40 nights, I cant help but picture Josh
Hartnett in his 2002 breakthrough movie with the tagline One man is about to
do the unthinkable.
The second thing that comes to mind is, of course, the wondrous pre-Easter
fasting season known as Lent.
This period is marked for Christians by fasting and abstinence from things that
may have a particularly special meaning to us.
By giving up something meaningful, we as Christians are mirroring the
temptation Jesus avoided while he was in the desert.
But while many of us choose to take vows of celibacy from ice cream and candy
bars, Ive noticed a handful of students who have gotten a bit more creative
and sometimes devilishly innovative with their Lenten compromises.
Take Arthur for example. (Ive changed names in order to preserve anonymity.) 
While perusing Arthurs Facebook profile, I was actually able to come across
what he had vowed to stay away from until after Easter.
His status informed me that Arthur is giving up Facebook for 40 days! Talk to
him after Jesus has risen! Nice, I thought. Heres a kid who is connecting
with his faith by denying his obsession to compulsively checkout the latest
news feed.
Another avid embracer of the season is not just giving up chipsshes been
devotedly avoiding all snack foods ending in the suffix -toes. (Cheetoes,
Fritoes, etc.)
I honestly did not realize how many delicious, artery-clogging crunchy snack
foods fall under this umbrella until I heard of this girls quest to conquer
the chip mountain. Abstinence from junk food makes me wonder if brands like
Lays and Shearers undergo a severe drop in revenue during March and April.
Now if you havent given something up yet, shame on you. While feasting on
chocolate bunnies and your moms ham, youve failed to be a true lamb of God.
However, before you condemn yourself to some uncreative, imprisoning promise, I
would encourage you to peruse alternative options.
Theres always the good default of swearing off, well, swearing. Swearing is a
positive and surefire way to bring in the holiday and if you continue to have
problems using profanity, you could also replace those convented words with
fun, festive phrases like, Holy shalom! and God Damascus!
Youll not only improve your knowledge of the holiday, but youll put everyone
in the spirit (no pun intended). Other almsgivings could include giving up
alcohol, or if youre partial to UV rays, tanning!
See, I like the idea of giving up tanning for two reasons. First, youd
obviously be saving yourself from potential skin cancer. Secondly, avoiding the
fake bake could sort of be symbolic of you giving up the fiery heat of the
Devils temptation.
Granted you might get pasty, nothing says purity like skin light enough to
blind the Savior himself.
Other suggestions would be to give up overused and abused words/phrases
(Brownie points for those who give up swearing too) such as like, Thats
what she said, and Can I use my late night swipe for this?