Fish Stick Day.

It's fish stick day. At least that's what Ash Wednesday always was when I was growing up. An ashy cross on the forehead and fish sticks for dinner.

This is also the day when many people will give something up for the next few weeks. That's a concept I really don't get.

My mother always said when she was growing up you did something for lent. Volunteered somewhere or did some sort of good works. Your other option was to go to church daily if that wasn't your custom so that you could better contemplate the meaning of the season.

How did that get corrupted to giving up chocolate candy, potato chips or sodas for the period? And why is it that in my husband's family you only give the item up from Monday through Saturday - Sunday's a free day. How does that make someone a better person?

I'm pondering this question particularly because it's family torture night. The family does Catholicism in a big way and I really don't like fish sticks.