By Chelsea Oliver
Senior Staff Writer
Dear Seton Hill,
40 days and nights is a long time, but worth it.
Lent. The time when we are asked to “give up” something or to consider bettering ourselves to remember the sacrifice that Christ made for each of us.
This year, I’m sacrificing shopping. Ugh. Hardest decision of my life. I’m not even Catholic. But I think it’s important, as a Christian, to at least remember the sacrifice that was made for me by sacrificing something that is hard for me to give up.
I’m sure it sounds petty, and it’s certainly not newsworthy to say “Local Girl Gives Up Shopping.” To be honest, what I’m doing is in some way hurting the economy; however, it is helping my bank account. What isn’t helping is that Charlotte Russe and Victoria’s Secret send me coupon text messages. I get emails from at least five different stores and Groupon updates.
Oh, and did I mention I work at the mall? Yeah. There’s the kicker. Giving up shopping and working at the mall. It’s been good times. Once, for Lent, I did a media fast. Zero forms of media…that included, but was not limited to, Facebook. That was pretty hard too.
I actually haven’t done anything really easy since I was about eleven. I gave up applesauce. That sounds pretty lame, and is was, but at eleven what else could I possibly sacrifice? Trust me it was a big deal then. Applesauce was my favorite food when I was eleven.
Anyway, it’s not about what you give up. It’s that you do something. I guess if you don’t believe then that’s a different story. For those of you that do believe that Christ gave up his life to save all of ours, sacrificing something for 40 days is honestly the easiest thing you could do. Yeah, it’ll be rough, and depending on what you give up, it might be really hard. But sacrifice is just a way to learn about yourself, a way to grow and ultimately, a way to say thank you.