Tomorrow it begins

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Tomorrow, or maybe today for the Antipodeans, begins Ramadhan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan

Years back, while I was on campus, came the day in the middle of Lent when there was some sort of departmental celebration midday. I was with a student consulting in my office, an Arab and Muslim, when somebody stuck his head in the door and reminded me to come to the conference room down the hall for eats. I thanked the messenger, but was not about to go stuff myself - not all in Christianity take Lent seriously.

My student - an older guy [younger than me, older than most grad students] of some importance in his home country, smiled and expressed solidarity. He knew it was Lent, knew me to be a serious Christian, and understood the long fast.

Any of you who have a Muslim colleague, associate, friend, relative entering the fast, keep it in mind and pass some solidarity.

I quite like the whole ideal of Ramadan, an annual reminder of moderation and charity is so much better than an annual celebration of excess and consumption [commercialised western 'christmas'], I have Palastinian neighbours and admire this annual resolution/ritual, perhaps I will be even more moderate in my food habits even if I don't fast through the day in solidarity [and I will lean up a little as a bonus].

peace j

In the west we are so inconsiderate to not have anything like this. Even if just one day a year we observed a fast and restrained ourselves from going shopping it would probably benefit us.

Yom ha kippurim has its uses. A 26 hours fast.

ruveyn

And we do have Lent, which some pay attention to. The Eastern churches more than thw Western. At one point Advent was a shorter but serious fast as well.

There is an international 'buy nothing day' - can't recall the date and our consummerist sponsored media are hardly going to promote it.

Personally I make everyday as anti consummerist as possible and life feels richer rather than poorer though I am adicted to second hand books and still buy new CD's - still a shallow pool of weakness and I am hardly drowning in indulgence.

peace j

Share the music topic

You could get together with your friends and pitch in to buy CDs and then you could burn someone's disks/upload them. I rarely buy books, new or used. I prefer to borrow from my public library.

In theory you are right however I feel muso's should get paid and I have rarified tastes which make 'sharing' unlikely, however I get your point.

peace j

Not sure where Number 1 Son stands on the how to support the musiciam issue.

I do know - my bookstore addiction was long term and SERIOUS, and two thirds of my life I could not have walked away from it.

I think buy nothing day is the last Saturday in November. A bit of a tall order putting it on Saturday so near to christmas and I am not surprised nobody promotes it. But I often buy nothing on many days, I hate shopping.

Only if we put the suspension to good use. A day set aside for really deep thought and the practice of restraint surely would not hurt us.

ruveyn

Great idea. Think people would buy into having a day like that once a week?

all those starving children placed at further risk by fasting.