Why I Don't Give Stuff up for Lent

I never gave anything up for Lent as a kid, but many of my friends did. Of course, all those friends were the Catholic kids. Us Protestants just kept on drinking pop and eating candy, straight through 'til Easter.

Now, don't start imagining a bunch of white kids squaring off in the middle of a dirt road, dancing and snapping to prepare for a rumble. The divide between Catholics and miscellaneous non-Catholics was a trivial one. Maybe the Catholic kids tended to be a little closer-knit with each other, since they went to Sunday School--no, CCD--together every week and shared the bigger things like Confirmation in second grade, but it was no big deal.

Still, it wasn't I went to college at Texas "WOOOO, JESUS!!!!!" A&M University (yes, Aggies, it would really be "JESUS, WHOOP!!!!!", but I'm translating for laymen here) that almost everybody I knew gave something up for Lent. Catholics, Methodists, Baptists--the whole shebang. But I just couldn't do it.

There are a lot of obvious benefits to giving something up for Lent--you stop doing something that's probably not great for you anyway, you get a lot of moral support since so many other people are going through the same thing, and the sheer effort and attention involved keeps your eyes on the prize (the prize being Our Risen Lord). Almost every year at this time, I think to myself, "Maybe I should give something up for Lent."

But I don't. The stubborn Protestant kid who still lives in my head won't get on board.