{"id":1942,"date":"2012-02-22T10:57:08","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T15:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=1942"},"modified":"2012-12-04T14:52:24","modified_gmt":"2012-12-04T19:52:24","slug":"im-giving-up-free-food-for-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/im-giving-up-free-food-for-lent.html","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;m giving up free food for Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.phdcomics.com\/comics\/archive.php?comicid=114\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Call of the Free Food\" src=\"https:\/\/www.phdcomics.com\/comics\/archive\/phd040999s.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"260\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ok, I know that sounds weird, but there\u2019s method in my madness. \u00a0I try to be on guard against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/stoicism-is-a-helluva-drug.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">my Kantian-to-solipsist\u00a0tendencies<\/a>, and I think I\u2019ve noticed another spot festering. \u00a0I\u2019m lucky in that, within walking distance of my office there\u2019s a delicious cupcake place that, once a week, gives away free cupcakes if you come in and do a talent. \u00a0And right across from my building is a restaurant that does free wine and cheese tastings twice a week. \u00a0Like a certain\u00a0Transylvania\u00a0count, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L-6XxF2Ul2g\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">I never drink\u2026 <em>wine<\/em><\/a>, but I quite enjoy the cheeses.<\/p>\n<p>The trouble is, I find that my pleasure in the food and in not paying for it tends to be\u00a0commingled\u00a0with a kind of smug feeling that I\u2019ve somehow gotten one over on someone. \u00a0I guess it\u2019s better to feel that when I\u2019m <em>not<\/em> actually taking advantage of people, but it\u2019s pretty obviously a bad pleasure to cultivate. \u00a0There\u2019s something pretty weird about redefining a generous gesture as a weakness I am exploiting.<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019m going to skip the cupcakes and cheese and hope that a\u00a0Lenten\u00a0hard reset will help me come back to them with just innocent enjoyment and actual gratitude. \u00a0I know this a strange, picayune thing to focus on, but it\u2019s actually a small fault, all the more reason to root it out and burn it off.<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s what I\u2019m giving up. \u00a0As for the thing I\u2019m taking on, I\u2019m finally reading <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1613821514\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=unequyoked-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1613821514\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Brothers Karamazov<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0I\u2019ve been working my way through some of the must-read religion-or-philosophy-related books I\u2019ve had recommended by friends or commenters. \u00a0(<em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0142437301\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=unequyoked-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0142437301\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Power and the Glory<\/a><\/em>. <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B005GP7ELW\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=unequyoked-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B005GP7ELW\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Brideshead Revisited<\/a><\/em>, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/1461078415\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=unequyoked-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1461078415\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Fear and Trembling<\/a><\/em>, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0465030793\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=unequyoked-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0465030793\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">I am a Strange Loop<\/a><\/em>, and <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0268035040\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=unequyoked-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0268035040\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">After Virtue<\/a><\/em> were also on this list, and I\u2019ve finished them). \u00a0The Brothers K is the big one left, and I promise you all (but mostly <a href=\"http:\/\/sublimitynow.blogspot.com\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">TKB<\/a>) that I will read it now.<\/p>\n<p>The comment thread is open for making fun of me or sharing any Lent plans of your own.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ok, I know that sounds weird, but there\u2019s method in my madness. \u00a0I try to be on guard against my Kantian-to-solipsist\u00a0tendencies, and I think I\u2019ve noticed another spot festering. \u00a0I\u2019m lucky in that, within walking distance of my office there\u2019s a delicious cupcake place that, once a week, gives away free cupcakes if you come [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[162,77,78],"class_list":["post-1942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-morality-in-practice","tag-accepting-gifts","tag-lent","tag-treating-people-as-things"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>I&#039;m giving up free food for Lent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ok, I know that sounds weird, but there&#039;s method in my madness. \u00a0I try to be on guard against my Kantian-to-solipsist\u00a0tendencies, and I think I&#039;ve noticed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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