Wednesday

ASHES

This day brings back a couple of discordant memories:

Wearing ashes on my forehead all day at a public school,
With teasing in the mornings mixed with requests,
"How do I get one?"

Learning that all of the undistributed palm fronds from
Last years Palm Sunday are burned to get the ashes,
And me asking, "Why are there any left? After mass,
Why don't the just go out and give them to everyone?"

The reflection on what to "give up" for Lent --
tough when you are young and have little of worth,
and we were admonished for being trivial. Now,
I hear people say they will give up,
"A couple of hours of IPOD time, or leave their
cell phone home for a day,"
and I am saddened.

Me --
I'm giving up arthritis, blurred vision and anxiety --
or at least complaining about them.