Demons of Depression Be Gone!
Dark chocolate wards off the demons of
depression. To preserve my mental health, which takes priority over piety, I
did not give up chocolate for Lent.
To further dispel any fantasies of giving up chocolate, Target’s pre-Lent,
post-Valentine’s Day 70 percent off sale had heart-shaped boxes chock full of
Lindt truffles marked down to 79 cents. I can't let the two boxes I purchased
sit for 40 days. Perhaps my discipline of buying only two boxes counts for some
sort of Lenten exercise in denial.
Lent came too soon after Valentine’s
Day to make chocolate a reasonable choice of what to forgo for forty days and
nights—nights especially, when the aforesaid demons creep out of the crevices
in which they have hidden during the light of day.
Ash Wednesday and Lent always come too soon after Valentine’s
Day and too close to Easter. Every retail establishment in the United States
has at least one heart-shaped, sugar-crusted marked-down box or bag of love tokens
that wasn’t purchased to show the love. Shelves that only days earlier shed the
scarlet banners bearing cupids stringing arrows groan under the weight of
chocolate rabbits, marshmallow chicks, malted milk robin’s eggs, and jelly
beans in every flavor and color, tart or sweet, licorice or jalapeno.
 |
| A port in the depression storm |
Self-denial regarding chocolate is not
a strong point of mine in any event, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Easter,
Halloween, Independence Day, March 5, August 9, September 21, October 16. No
holidays (of which I am aware) occur on March 5, August 9, September21, and
October 16, and that’s the point. Chocolate consumption is an equal-opportunity
indulgence as far as days of the week, month, or year, holiday or not. Lent
isn’t a holiday, but instead is a time of sacrifice, penitence, reflection.
Under the threat of the dark demons, few of those soul-enriching exercises are
possible for me. However, with truffles hidden securely from the prying paws of
my progeny, where I can have access to even one, I can face the demons and
consider other soulful ways to walk through the 40 days and nights days and
nights of this season.
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