Perhaps you’ve realized this by now from the ashen markings on some students’ and professors' foreheads, but today is Ash Wednesday. It marks the beginning of Lent, a period of almost seven weeks that lead up to Easter Sunday.
Many Christian denominations encourage followers to give up something from their lives during the period of Lent. Whether chocolate, TV, or (in my case) Facebook, many abstain in particular ways for the sake of distinguishing Lent as a season of turning away from worldly things in order to more acutely meditate on divine truths.
Doctrine aside, I think this is a practice many of us at Columbia could learn from.
