Easter

Easter Holiday is an interesting thing in the Czech Republic. On our train ride back from Olomouc, I was perusing through magazine racks, when I began to read the headlines of a Czech newspaper. It was a poll about Easter and asked these questions: "What does Easter mean to you?" and "What do you do to celebrate Easter?" My curiosity being engaged, I began to read further on; I wanted to see the results, as I was sure that it would be an insight into Czech thinking. What I found, was really shocking. In answer to the "what Easter means to you" question, 66 percent said that it was the traditional celebration of spring renewal (pagan in origin), 24 percent that it was Christian and the remainder said that it really means nothing. The answers to the second question were no different: 68 percent of the persons asked said that Easter is a time when they clean, 15 percent said they take trips into nature and only 18 percent informed the paper that they go to Church.

Instantly, I felt sadness.

Sixty-eight percent of people in the Czech Republic, on one of the holiest days of the year, clean!? I mean, I can clean any weekend, really. There is nothing spiritual or emotional about wiping the dirt off of a windowsill or sweeping gargantuan size dust balls into a trash can. I mean what is your life about? Where are you rooted? What is your worldview? I know that their life praxis isn't built around having a clean house, at least I hope not.

To me, Easter is a reminder that my life isn't really my life: I should not live for myself and I shouldn't only think about my comfort. Easter is a reminder about the deepness of spirituality, of creation, of beauty, of family and of emotion. It is a calling back to reconciliation and it is the realization of why life should be more than just an amalgamation of pleasures, desires and obligations. Life is the most powerful, most wonderful and most mysterious gift. On Easter I want to celebrate this reminder that life and all that it encompasses, from marriage to flowers, are infinitely more complex than our explanations of them. It is the time when we celebrate the greatest sabotage: the defeat of death. And I'm sorry, but cleaning windows does not do that justice, even if you’re a Christian or not....