For those of us who practice certain denominations of Christianity, last Wednesday marked the beginning of the forty days of self-sacrificing known as Lent.It’s only been five days and my Lenten experience is already spiraling downward with no end in sight, I tried to give up sweets but have already indulged in one extraordinarily rich piece of chocolate cake. (It was a special occasion, okay?) And polished off that Hershey’s Special Dark bar in the back of my desk drawer. Indeed, I have been making excuses left and right for my lackadaisical resolve to abstain from dessert during Lent. And as I brainstormed for a topic for today’s opinion column, I realized that all I have done thus far is complain about behavior on campus.First I complained that not enough people knew proper protocol for pedestrian-cyclist interaction. Then I complained about the proliferation of gossip in our cafeteria. And in today’s column, at my roommate’s suggestion, I was just about to complain about parking etiquette on campus.In light of this revelation, my new Lenten resolution is to stop complaining. Although complaining usually makes for interesting writing, I think our pampered campus already voices enough complaints when in reality there is very little about which to complain.Instead of complaining, I plan to observe. Euphemism? Maybe. Valiant effort? Surely.This weekend I was grateful to observe that although our odds for survival this week are low (does anyone else have the worst academic week ever coming up?) morale is high. Mustangs are not letting insurmountable quantities of tests, prospectuses and papers get them down when Spring Break is on the horizon.While many of my friends will be enjoying skiing, tanning and sight seeing, I will be enjoying the world’s longest nap, followed by (for once in my semester) reading for pleasure. And maybe observing a thing or two. That’s right: observing, not complaining. I am still trying to sacrifice sweets. Not in order to perfect my Spring Break body (time constraints, but c’est la vie) but rather to perfect my ability to live off little. But I think eliminating toxic complaints from my everyday vocabulary will be much more rewarding than eliminating sugar from my diet. So even if you’ve never heard of Lent, giving up complaining would be a great way to spring clean your life. Let me know how it goes; I’d love to hear from you anytime.Finally, for my first official observation, I would like to thank the parties responsible for installing all of our lovely new bike racks around campus. It seems that over the past two weeks, shiny new racks have been magically popping up all over. They really do make it a pleasure to ride. And we didn’t even have to complain.
Rebecca Quinn is a sophomore Spanish, French, and art history triple major. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
