According to The Globe and Mail, secular folks want the chance to give things up for Lent, too, be it chocolate or beer or Twitter.
The thing about this is, you can decide to give stuff up for any reason, and any time. If a lot of people agree to pick the same series of days to kick the addiction to television or Facebook (like that can happen!) it can perhaps create a group feeling (guilt/competition?) or whatever, but it doesn’t have to be before Easter. It could be before Christmas, or giving up something you love over summer, or what have you. It wouldn’t have to be timed to coincide with Lent. Just go ahead and give up something.
What is the point of it, to sacrifice something you like in order to drive a message home that others have less, or will you be doing it just so you can brag about your ability to make do without that Tim Horton’s cuppa for a while?
At any rate, pick a better reason than “because everyone is doing it,” okay?
One Minion's Opinion 