I have been absent from the board for a bit largely because I decided to take a vow of silence for the duration of the Lenten season; which, as it turns out, is a sort of semi-occasional vow of silence which I had somehow decided that vow extended to posting on the Fool which may or may not be applicable and there is no where to turn for a ruling on that. It’s not like golf rules when your drive slices into the woods. There are most certainly rules for dealing with that. It’s more like a Boeing Jet airliner where you have thousands of working parts that should one go rogue it might present a particular problem. Anyway
Note: My All-Too-Lovely has encouraged me in this vow of silence which has transitioned to a semi-occasional vow of silence; which, oddly enough, does not extend itself to writing checks, albeit actively excluding all discussion on all the various club projects she comes up with. Go Figure
So anyway - I am stubbornly going to see this vow of silence thing through; but I will tell you, its a lot harder than it sounds or than it doesn’t sound such is the case. I am going to make an exception one day a week but haven’t decided which day - maybe the Saturday and Sunday which would be two days. I dunno.
Anyway, I finally sallied forth with a bit of cash today on today’s wonderful retreat. Added TBs to all Starters. We’ll see how that works out.
All the Best,
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Champ,
Long-time lurker here and feeling a bit of withdrawal caused by your vow of silence. Hopefully to ease your pain (and mine) I wanted to offer a bit of information that you may not be aware of. Lent is a 40-day season of the church year beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending Easter Sunday (a bit over six weeks later). If you count up the days, it totals over 40. The reason? Sundays are not included in the Lenten season. Thus, your vow of silence should not continue on Sundays during lent. I could provide the theological reasoning for excluding Sundays from the season, but that is another story.
Cheers,
Ed
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Hi Ed:
I didn’t know that and find it very interesting. Would love to hear the theological reasoning if you have a mind to share - Please PM me if you like.
All the Best,
Champ,
The short version…each Sunday is a ‘little Easter’ celebrating the resurrection. The Lenten season is a period of penitence and fasting in preparation for Easter. The two are incompatible, thus, Sunday’s are not included in the liturgical season of Lent.
Cheers,
Ed
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I was going to guess that they did not include Sundays because as the Sabbath they should already be observing a separation from the behaviors of the other days, such that each Sabbath is already a Lenten day year round.
ForestryProf
jhawker85
I spent some time looking at it from the Catholic point of view and there is certainly some differing views on the matter. Interestingly enough, regardless of whether you count Sundays among the 40 days or Lent - the period always includes more than 40 days. I have always just considered the Lenten season to go from Ash Wednesday until the day before Easter.
So anyway, what I have decided is that somehow my vow of silence morphed into a sort of vow of non communication as it relates to things on the Fool. So - I am going to at least post some updates and the monthly review. But here’s the thing about it all:
Even if you take out Sundays from the Lenten Season I am not sure the good intentions of giving up something during the period as a small personal sacrifice works all that well.
For example - let’s say that you decide to give up alcohol for Lent. It wouldn’t make much sense to go 6 days without going out to your favorite watering hole for a couple of daily drinks - only then to drink a couple of bottles of wine on Sundays. So I think for purposes of self sacrifice you just have to include Sundays. Continuity and all.
Or maybe you’re a golfer and play every Saturday with a couple of friends and decide to sacrifice that activity for Lent - then, you and your golf buddies just play on Sundays. See the problem here?
All the Best,
Champ,
Completely agree with your rationale which is why (for many decades now) rather than giving something up for Lent, I instead try to add some sort of spiritual discipline. Scripture reading, volunteering at a local food bank, practicing some kindness toward strangers (i.e. throttling back on road rage…although I guess this could be considered giving something up). Anyway, I’ve long felt that that approach is actually more in keeping with the intent of the season. Regardless of how or why you add or subtract from your normal daily life, I hope that it brings you closer to your creator and the people that are important in your life.
Cheers,
Ed
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