This time of year, I’m usually reminded by the moaning and groaning of my friends of the Catholic persuasion that the self-sacrifice season of Lent is upon us. My friends usually follow up their grumblings with a casual, “So what are you giving up?” I generally respond by saying, “Being raised as a protestant, our pagan ways do not require us to give up anything.”
Or at the very least, no one ever got around to telling me I had to.
My catholicized friends are also generally shocked that I can hunker down at the Outback on Friday evenings and rustle me up a Victoria’s Filet wrapped in bacon if I so choose. The protestant upbringing is much like the Outback itself in that it similarly has a ‘No Rules, Just Right.’ policy when it comes to Lent.
