Tommy Kapai: Let's all just give it up for Lent

Giving up smiling for Lent is easy for Vladimir Putin, just as his Winter Olympics were for creating the perfect PR smokescreen for taking over Ukraine.

Giving up the good things in life can be hard - just as giving in to them can be hard to handle after you have tried and failed.

On Wednesday, many a good card-carrying Catholic will begin what some see as the season of giving up, known as Lent.

The subject came up last Friday night, while fishing with a couple of mates off Motuhoa Island.

We caught up on everything and caught nothing in the process, but the therapeutic value of fishing is beyond measure and not one to be given up without good reason.

We watched and we waited in the still of the night and, like an uninvited guest, the full tide came without kai - and the only thing biting was us on a couple of krispies.

But the good kai was in the korero we were having and, after floating ideas and stories like a drift line going nowhere, the subject travelled where it usually does these days, to land and religion.

And that's where Lent kicked in. The word Lent itself is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for "March," the month in which the majority of Lent falls.

Biblically, the duration can be found when Moses stayed with Jesus for 40 days and 40 nights without eating any food or drinking any water, as did Jesus himself when he prayed and fasted for 40 nights in the desert before he began his public ministry.

So the subject seemed appropriate, given it was Friday and we were fishing - and fasting was an inevitability given that the size of our catch couldn't feed a feline, let alone our whanau. My mate Rangi kicked off with an off-the-cuff comment: "I thought Lent was something you had to give back?"

But once explained by the on-board card-carrying Catholics, he was quick to work out why the Crusaders must be good Friday fish eaters, giving up winning for 40 days of Lent.

Then followed up with: "My mates started a band called Lent, so when they came out on stage they could yell out to the crowd let's give it up for Lent!"

Things picked up from there with Geoff, who is in the hospitality game on a big loan: "If things don't improve I might have to give up paying my staff for the next 40 days."

3 Pies, his bro-in-law, was quick off the mark when asked what he was giving up for Lent.

"I'm giving up manners, so bugger off and give me that last biscuit - now!" - tempered with: "I might give up television for 40 days but only if my MySky can record everything."

Not to be left out on Lent, I timed my run with a Leninist smirk.

"Giving up smiling for Lent is easy for Putin, just as his Winter Olympics were for creating the perfect PR smokescreen for taking over the Ukraine."

The clever dick in me had to say: "Gave up God last year and failed, so I have relented and giving it another go this year."

And on a cynical, serious note: "Some of my whanau's Facebook friends will be praying for them to give up Facebook for Lent."

3 Pies was on a roll and chipped in: "I'm giving up punting on the ponies from now till Easter."

"Yeah, right," Geoff scoffed.

"Bet you 20 bucks I can," 3 Pies replied, before realising he had broken Lent quicker than a sugar hit from the upsized can of Coke he was sculling.

The lightbulbs kept on flashing in the fluent Maori-speaking Rangi's head. "I'm giving up speaking English for 40 days - ehoa ma, ka kite, you fullas!"

And in defence of those who give in long before they give up, there is the famous quote: "A guilty suffering spirit is more open to grace than an apathetic or smug soul."

When it comes to giving up, there is no failure other than not having a go, just like there is no failure in fishing if you burley up and korero on krispies with a few good mates.

Catholic or not, it was Friday and all we were trying to do was catch a feed of fish.

broblack@xtra.co.nz

Tommy Kapai is a Tauranga author and writer.