My Lenten Days.

My Lenten Days.

So, I am keeping Lent this year. After a long break of many years I had a sudden whim to do it this time. Nothing special about this year or at least that’s what I keep telling myself, but I was resolved to do it this year at least and am now halfway through the lent period. And as everyone knows the period of lent is the time we choose to try and conquer some of our basic instincts or in my case baser instincts. I have too many vices, (innumerable at last count) I want to get rid off but it’s foolish (and far beyond my will power) to try and tackle them all at the same time so I prudently decided to pick something do-able and my own size.

So this year for lent I have decided to curb my flippant tongue. Too often in the past I have made many glib statements showing off my wit at others expense. I can’t help it, for any statement which others make I always have a half-a-dozen returns or comebacks hovering on the tip of my tongue- ranging from the blasé to the utterly cutting. And often enough I am ashamed to say I have shown off my wit and humor even at the cost of prudence when it would have been better to have stayed silent. Self change is the mark of a strong man they say and I am resolved to use this lent period to conquer my instincts to make flippant remarks which might conceivably hurt others. Based on the results of the past three weeks I can now say with fair confidence that I am well on the way to controlling my caustic tongue from making any throwaway statement which a kind and considerate person will never utter. And I sincerely hope to be a better person by the end of this lent period, so help me god. Come Good Friday, I so want to be a good person.

Now for those wondering at this public espousal of my religious beliefs let me remind you of the old cliché that everyone gets religion in their dotage. Which means I am well on the way to senility. And the reason I am using this blog as a confessional (instead of finding me a clergy to grant absolution for my sins) is because I believe such a public confession automatically converts all of you readers into my clergy- the only ones I trust to keep me on the straight and narrow path. So if (and that’s an unqualified if) you find me back-sliding and showing off my “sense of humor” at some poor unfortunates expense I leave it to you readers to put me back on the path by gentle reminders (preferably). I lay this trust on you, are you up to it?

And there, that’s all about the serious stuff. Now to add some levity let me do one more confession - but a nice one this time. Having had a good first quarter professionally i succumbed to temptation and went and got myself a bad-ass SUV (all-black) for off-roading. I know I have always been someone who advocated a responsible life and for leaving as small an energy footprint as we can to help our earth. Which is why I resisted the temptation for a large car for so long. But in my defense lately I have felt the call of the wild road pretty strongly. For those who haven’t felt it- it’s a kind of a deep longing in the bones to leave everything behind and just go off into the wild with just the clothes on your back- it can’t be explained with any clarity. It just is.

Maybe, if I had been born a couple centuries ago I could have lived out my fantasy- a man on a spirited horse, a six shooter on the hip and the lonely path into the wilds (a lifestyle straight out of the westerns I love so much). But now I need a different kind of vehicle to tackle the Wild West. Ergo, the SUV. And so in the next few months it’s going to be me, the car, the dog and roads. And as I don’t own a dog it’s just gonna be me and the long, dusty road. As it should be. So expect up-coming posts on solo travel to inhospitable parts. Watch this space.