40 days and 40 nights

Of no facebook, no coffee, no television/movies. This is gonna be a stretch, but it's more than necessary. Everytime I go to get coffee, I shall drink water. Whenever I want to get on facebook, I shall work on one of the papers that I still have to do. Not to mention, a week of no skype. I need to concentrate on my school work. It's why I'm here. I need to concentrate on a daily quiet time that is way more structured than the ones I'm doing now. I need to not fail. And I need to keep in step with the One who actually knows what I'm supposed to be doing. So, here it starts.

I had an interesting conversation with some of the people in my french class today. We were discussing giving things up for Lent. And a guy said that he stopped trying because whatever he gives up, he always ends up doing at one point or another when he's drunk. I suggested he give up drinking...and he said that it was what college was for. He didn't believe me when I looked at him and told him that I loved my life and had never had a beer. He thought I was being sarcastic. Then I told him that I rarely watch tv, and he just laughed, asking "What on earth do you do? Should I call the fun police?"

Always intruiging to me is how little people are exposed to this alternative. It breaks my heart to see my fellow students stumble home on a Saturday night, because I wonder what drove them to it. I'm not saying they're bad people, or that I think any less of them for it. I just simply will never understand the motivation of wanting to get so hammered that you don't remember anything the next morning. What are they trying to forget? How pained they must be that they don't want to experience their lives.

Interestingly enough, today in my health care class, the guest lecturer was talking about Public Health, and its stance on prevention. He gave us an example of some drownings in La Crosse. Like 9 young men (college students) have drown in the last 10 years. And apparently the community kept thinking that there was a serial killer or something. The reality of the matter is most likely that these guys got extremely drunk, and accidentally ended up in the water. They died. This is not a funny issue, and it pains me to watch students brush off such things as if they don't exist. Like it could never happen to them, or anyone they know. I'm sure that this guy didn't go to the bar that night thinking he wouldn't be around the next day. I'm sure it didn't cross his mind that anything terrible would happen. It was just another weekend, like all the others.

People get hurt when alcohol is involved. I know that the chances are always slim, but there's still a chance. I don't understand how it's worth some of the risks. I don't enjoy watching others waste their lives away, and I wish that I could persuade them to stop. But most of them don't until something terrible happens. By then, it's too late. I wonder what would happen if all the students of Madison gave up drinking for the next 40 days. It would be incredible.