"I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. We have never had any quarrel, to which I have been a party. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I'll keep my Christmas humour to the last. So A Merry Christmas, uncle!"
"Good afternoon!"said Scrooge.
"And a Happy New Year!"
"Good afternoon!" said Scrooge.
This is a pretty famous passage from A Christmas Carol. It's about the annual trek that Scrooge's nephew, Fred, makes to invite his crabby uncle to Christmas dinner. Of course, Scrooge always rejects the offer, but Fred is determined to keep extending the invitation. It's his Christmas ritual, his Christmas promise to himself and Scrooge.
Most people who are Christians make Lenten sacrifices or promises. For the forty or so days of the Lenten season, we all do something that reminds us of Christ's crucifixion. We give up chocolate. We skip meat on Fridays (for Catholics). We say extra prayers for people. We make treks to see difficult relatives/friends, like Fred. In the past, as I said before, I've done all these things. I've also prayed for my enemies every day and written a poem every day. A Lenten obligation usually isn't easy. In fact, in the last few years, my Lenten obligations have driven me a little crazy.
This year, I thought I was taking it easy on myself with Project Memoir. It was going great until last Sunday's computer fuck-up. Now, I've been having trouble getting back on track. I plan on spending most of my time today working on my memoir again, reconstructing the stuff I lost. I will have something to post tomorrow. No guarantees about its quality or length.
That's the nature of obligations, Christmas or Lenten. We try our best to fulfill them. Fred extends his friendship every year, even though he knows Scrooge will ridicule and reject him. I will sit down with my journal today, even though I will struggle and possibly fail. Fred tries his best. I will try my best. That's all we can do.
At least Saint Marty can have chocolate without guilt while he fails today.
Confessions of Saint Marty
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