So? What About Lent and Ash Wednesday

Yesterday, Lent began, a period of forty days of almsgiving, prayer and fasting (from food, festivities, luxury, habits, tendencies), which normally begins on a Wednesday known as the “Ash Wednesday”. This period is very important for the Christian faithful, it’s a time of soul searching and repentance in preparation for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

I attended morning mass and got the ash which was made from palm from the previous lent crossed on my head. The priest while doing this said “from dust we came and to dust we shall return”. Rain fell heavily in this region and that made the day dull for most people. I cleaned the house which the morning rain had made a mess and prepared for school and left home.

But my Lent did not just begin with Ash Wednesday and the preaching in church, one of the things that began this period for me was a story a friend told me about good attitude. I realized, that we had left out attitude in the preparation plans for lent. The story goes.

A young lady was waiting for her in the boarding room of a big airport. The flight was delayed and since the departure time was still hours away; she got a book to while away time. She bought a pack of cookies also. She sat in an armchair in the departure section to rest and read in peace. Beside the armchair where the pack of cookies lay, was a man sitting right next to her on the other side of the arm. The man opened his magazine and started reading.

 

When she took out the first cookie, the man took one too. She was irritated by that but she said nothing. She just thought to herself “what a nerve!, if I was in the mood, I wound punch him for daring”.

For each cookie she took, the man took one too. This really infuriated her but she didn’t want to cause a scene. When a cookie was left, she thought; “ah! What would this abusive man do now?”. Then the man taking the last cookie, divided it into two halves, took one half giving her the other half. This was too much! She was too angry now. In a huff, she took her book and her things and stormed to another section of the departure room.

When she sat down in her seat, in the plane, she looked into her purse to take her lenses and to her surprize, her packet of cookies was there, untouched and unopened! She felt so ashamed. She had forgotten that her cookies were still in the purse. The man had divided his cookie s with her without feeling angered or bitter, while she had been very angry with the thought that she was dividing her cookies with him. And there was no chance to explain herself nor apologize.

Let’s take the path which the man took, we should improve on our attitude toward things. This goes a long way to show that the change one needs begins with himself or herself. If we all go about our different businesses with good attitude, we would make this a happier world for ourselves. We might never have a chance to explain ourselves, so why not avoid it instead.