“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers. And what's even worse: they disregard ME.” -Socrates

This is how I feel sometimes. How dare people not respect my wisdom? Then I realize, I don't much mind it either. 

So Lent has begun. I'm a Roman Catholic and proud of it. Lent is, however, probably my least favorite time of year. It could be compared to when a hefty eater goes on a diet. On one hand, the eater hates to give up what is his comfort food, his lifeline (literally in some ways....we must eat to survive!) yet, on the other, he knows that it will have a major impact on his life and improve his future. 

It's kind of of like that. 

I have given up the internet (except for school purposes) and texting (unless necessary). [Yes, I am on the computer. It is Sunday and Sunday's are the Lord's day, not to be counted for fasting and abstaining. "And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?" Lk: 5:34] 

Surprisingly, it's nowhere near as difficult as I thought it would be. When you use Facebook and Messaging and texting and e-mailing, you're mostly doing it for recreational purposes. Generally you end up cross-examining other people's lives and comparing them to yours. 

(Yeah, I'm a Pintrest addict....)

How true is this? I want to know. If everyone took twenty minutes out of their day to sit down and THINK about everything going on, where they're headed, where they want to be headed, how they want to get there, instead of going on Facebook and seeing where everyone else is headed and how "easy" it is for them, where might teenagers get? 

SHOUTOUT to all those teens who have to struggle. Oh wait, that's all of them. For some reason, it's hard to look past your own struggles and realize that no one has exactly the same struggles or problems you do. NO ONE. Then again, how many people are exactly alike? I could be struggling with seeing dropping out of highschool and getting a GED, a lifechanging step, as my only option. You could be at home struggling with an alcoholic parent who is helping to define who you are and what you can do at this point in time. Are they the same? NO. Are the struggles equal? They can't even compare because each situation is different. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, so why even bother comparing? 

In psychology last week, we studied a girl named Brandi Binder who had half of her brain removed. Her entire life was changed by those two surgeries and one doctor changed what would have been a relatively unlivable life after that with three words. "Challenge, challenge, challenge." Without a challenge, where do we end up? Challenges build and define us. Rather than worrying about them, embrace them. Know that, when they're over, how they were and are being handled make us into the persons we are to be. 

Edit: I seriously give up formatting on this one. Enjoy.