Mary Assel: A lifetime journey sorting out the wisdom of Ramadan
It started when we were children.
My recollection of the word “fasting” coincided with Lent. There were children around me (when I began attending a public school) who would fast for Lent.
As I began fasting, my recollection is that it was half a day and that none of us had to fast more than a half day. So, we could go home and eat at noon. My mother agreed to that because we were young.
We celebrated the Eid (the festival at the end of Ramadan) by getting dressed and walking around with our little purses.
As years passed, if it wasn’t convenient to fast—I was young and didn’t know it was one of the pillars of Islam—I didn’t. I thought of fasting as a choice. Nobody really imposed it on me. It wasn’t something that I cared too much to do, especially during my early years and early forties.
But then, I began to think that this is serious and is one of the five pillars of Islam. I began to fast and mandate indirectly to the children that they needed to consider it.
(Today, I feel the effects of Ramadan as I work) because I’m talking all day. It’s hard for me to pull through the day, but I do. I find that having a good meal before sunrise helps me not get hungry or thirsty. My speech may be a little slower than normal. I’ll have a lower tone. I’ll try not to exhaust myself. I try not to workout and to avoid situations where I have to talk a lot or read aloud. I’ll have the students do the talking.
At the end of the month, I feel good about it.
And I pray that one day I will have the energy to fast for a whole year to make up for the times that I didn’t fast when I should have.
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(Published in www.ReadTheSpirit.com)
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