I'm a lapsed Catholic. Somewhere along the line of 25 years I was baptized, taught some prayers, and forced to make the sign of the cross every time I passed a church. My mom had this interesting way of giving everything I did a "Catholic Feel" ... you know - candles, incense, saints, rosaries - maybe its a carryover from her days in a Catholic Boarding School. Technically, I should probably be excommunicated for taking the host without having an actual "1st Communion"... but that's between me and the big person/entity in charge up there.
So that brings me to this curious holiday period called "Lent". That magical time of year where everyone and their mother seems to be "giving up" something for the sake having their prayers answered. They sacrifice vice (that rhymed!) to somehow encounter grace from god. Well...I'm not sure if giving up my Facebook vice last year for Lent brought me any closer to god - but it did bring me closer to the hypocrisy which is social approbation. Ethically, I wonder if it was really necessary to use Lent as an excuse to give up Facebook for 40 days and nights. I'm going to guess that that - not it wasn't very necessary as much as it was "opportune". Really, how many out of my 500+ Facebook friends really would notice my absence on a regular day? The same question I ask is...how many of us really care that you are nobly choosing not to eat cupcakes for Lent? Does god or the collective human consciousness really care or register your sacrifice?
I could argue theology all day...but the bottom line is like all of religion...we do what makes us feel better. Deprivation makes humans feel like they have a purpose for some odd reason. As sentient and sapient homo sapiens, we crave that which is rare...so everyone loves cupcakes...shun Cupcakes and Facebook to be the shining paragon of virtue that glitters amongst a beach of mud and muck...
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