My Ash Wednesday Story

Actually, it's more of an anecdote. And it's not really an "Ash Wednesday anecdote" so much as a "Rob is clueless anecdote".

I didn't know too many Catholic kids growing up, and I guess the ones I did know must not have done the ashes-on-the-forehead thing. In any case, I somehow got well into college before I learned about this custom. And my education was thus:

I sat down at my desk before class started. A girl I knew slightly was sitting next to me, and I noticed a smudge on her forehead. Thinking that I would want someone to tell ME if I had a big black smudge on my face, I said, "Hey, you have something on your forehead."

She responded, "I'm Catholic."

Totally bemused, thinking she must have grossly misunderstood what I said, I stammered, "Uh... no... I mean... you have something on your forehead."

She said, "I know. I'm Catholic. It's Ash Wednesday."

"Oh," I said. I still had no idea what the deal was, but I nodded and shut up.