How many days until Easter? This is the question I ask every year during Lent. Usually I've made a dignified vow to give up some basic necessity. However in recent years, I've come to realize that chocolate deprivation is a serious health risk for both me and those around me. I become irrational, irritable and have been known to weep without shame at the sight of a Hershey's commercial. It makes for 40 very long days and nights, I assure you.

In reminiscing on the matter, I came to notice that it always seem to be a favorite food or drink that gets the ax. Those who practice Lent swear off potato chips or make an oath to get through the days without coffee. This is all well and good, but it isn't only our delicious, if not so nutritious, refreshments that could probably stand a little re-evaluation.

Lent is about paying respect to the idea of real sacrifice. Since I can tell you right now that no one is going to buy your promise to give up beer, I propose something slightly different for this year. Why not pick a personal vice or a bad habit and make the decision to give it a rest for a while? To illustrate this idea, I've prepared a couple examples. Say you're prone to picking petty fights with your roommates. Perhaps you could use this period to take a more relaxed position and remain calm when you see someone has neglected their turn to do the dishes. In witnessing a public display of affection that would typically cause you annoyance, choose to not be bothered by it. If it was a public display of another kind and you felt it was unjustly taken down, quit whining and move on with your life.

Upon hearing this concept, a friend replied that 40 days hardly counted because people knew they could just go right back to their vices at the end of it. To me, that's the whole point. New Year's resolutions are tricky because people will make valiant efforts to quit smoking, lose weight or become dynamite Scrabble players. Time passes and they inevitably light up, eat cheesecake or use that triple word score to spell 'bat' thus feeling like failures. Lent is far less pressure. It's only a month and some change. It's long enough to be effective but not so long that you're going to end up pulling your hair out.

Nothing seems to give one a little perspective better than time. The temptation to stray will always be there but when compared to 40 days and nights alone in the desert without sustenance, it seems like a small price to pay.

This viewpoint appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 15 2005.