Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Do they have Lenten Disciplines at Costco?


Ahhh Lent. It always reminds me of Jon Stewart and something he said in a stand-up routine about us gentiles:

"Yom Kippur - we don’t eat for one day and all our sin for the whole year is atoned.
Beat that, Lent! 40 days to one day. See, even in sin you’re paying retail."

He makes a good point.

My former priest was always an advocate for "taking something on" rather than "giving something up" when it came to Lent. She thought "discipline" shouldn't necessarily mean sacrifice and punishment, but should instead be about learning and introspection.

She's no Jon Stewart, but she also makes a good point :)

I've tried the last couple of years to do one of each - give something up and take something on. I'd like to think it's because of the high spiritual plane upon which I reside, but I don't think anyone - including me - is buying that. No, really, it's more like hedging my bets. That MAYBE this way I'll succeed in following through with one of my choices all the way to Easter. Or at least Palm Sunday Eve...

So, this year I thought I'd give it another whirl.

Giving up: Plastic bottles and containers. I'm not a big consumer of bottled water, but I do enjoy far, far too many plastic bottles of Diet Coke. And I do try to choose an alternative to plastic containers when it comes to things at the grocery store, but I eat out way too much and that often involves a plastic container of some type. Case in point - I picked up a few slices of chocolate cake from a bakery for a little Fat Tuesday celebration in the office. Each slice in a separate little plastic box. Madness. Tasty madness. But madness nonetheless.

This picture is part of an amazing exhibit by artist Chris Jordan titled,
Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait, and depicts the two
million plastic bottles used in the US every five minutes.

Taking on: More than a year ago I got a little printer/scanner/copier combo thing. It's very pretty and does a really good job. Well, it would if I ever used it. One of the reasons for getting it was to scan in all of my old photos. But oh the time that would take. It's an overwhelming project.

This picture is part of an amazing display by Gert titled, Procrastination:
The Unfinished Photo Scanning Project
and depicts the years between
her first Kodak Instamatic (ca. 1979) and her first digital camera (ca. 2005).
Not pictured: additional bin of photos-to-be-scanned-that-actually-made-it-into-photo-albums.


But it occurred to me... you know what else this little discipline could be? Blog fodder. So for this Lenten Season I hope to tackle a life's worth of photos AND take you on the journey with me.

That's right. For 40 days.

In this instance I think my priest might side with Jon Stewart.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I look forward to joining you in the introspection and reflection! You are so funny.

Unknown said...

That's Eli in the straw hat! In your bin! My boy is in your bin. And seeing how I remember that the picture was from VBS from when he was three, and now he is almost 8...so, my boy has been in your bin for five years. Sad, G.

:)

gertrude said...

K: That one was on my fridge for eons before going into The Bin. There is another of all of your children now on the fridge AND in a frame in my house AND in my office. Happy?! :)

If you think that is bad - did you notice the one in the bin of YOU at VBS playing volleyball from when you were eight or nine? And the one of us with Mrs. Smith when we were six? Oh Lordy, this is going to be gooood...

gertrude said...

AND!!! I just noticed that one of the pictures you can see is of me on my 29th birthday holding up the toilet seat you gave me. HA!! This is going to be the best Lent EV - ER!!

Unknown said...

What kind of friend gives you a toilet seat???? Why did I do that again? I have to sit and think....