Fast Wednesday
Itˆ‚s Wednesday and Iˆ‚m hungry.
Iˆ‚m pretty aware of how much food runs my life, but itˆ‚s never more apparent to me than when Iˆ‚m fasting. During fasts I realize how much my days are structured around when I eat, what I eat, how much if it I eat. Amazing things to realize, yo.
Iˆ‚m fasting as part of the KU Muslim Student Association Fast a Thon. To raise money for a local homeless shelter (and no doubt raise awareness of the Muslim faith as A-OK) local business are giving the MSA money for every non-Muslim that fasts during this, the last Wednesday of Ramadan.
Man, I thought itˆ‚d be easier than this. I fast during the Fridays of Lent, but the rules for Lenten fasting arenˆ‚t apparently as strict as those for Ramadan and Iˆ‚ve been conditioned to accept the Lenten fasting. . .two decades of it gets you pretty used to not eating during Fridays in the spring. But this one, yeah, itˆ‚s going to be a challenge. . .but Iˆ‚m going to make it.
Iˆ‚ve been trying to remember to fast once during Ramadan for a few years now, ever since that fateful Bears game with Faisal; a story that Iˆ‚m sure folks have heard so often I wonˆ‚t bore you with it here. . .unless Iˆ‚ve misidentified my audience and you want to hear that story.
Maybe Iˆ‚m doing this because I want to understand the faith of my friends. Maybe Iˆ‚m doing this because itˆ‚s my way of thumbing my nose at people who donˆ‚t think like me. Maybe Iˆ‚m doing this as part of a class project on performance art. . .Iˆ‚m not sure. All I know right now is that itˆ‚s after 12:30p, and I havenˆ‚t eaten since 5a when I got up to have a pre-sunrise breakfast. Iˆ‚ve got just under five hours to go and Iˆ‚m getting really in tune with my body right now.
Itˆ‚s a fascinating thing, learning what your body needs to keep going, how it runs optimally, and what hunger really feels like. When I got up this morning I wanted breakfast because it was breakfast time, not because I was hungry. Before I taught my first class of the day I thought I was hungry, and now Iˆ‚m moreso than I was previously. Iˆ‚m starting to wonder if either of these hungers has been ˆ¨realˆÆ or just my conditioned response to living in the industrialized world.
Yeah, Iˆ‚m glad Iˆ‚m doing this. Iˆ‚m also really looking forward to dinner and tonightˆ‚s Ozo show. WHOO! Gonna be sooo hott.
i am also fasting these days. my friend is muslim and asked me to join her by fasting for a day. i did and then realized that i do fasting like that regularly, so i have been fasting for the past two weeks with her, she says it's solidarity, i say it's the only thing that i can do to understand how hard it is to fast, and we all know i couldn't make it a whole month. anyway, i am learning a lot about myself through fasting. interesting.
Word, yo.