grace

I don't consider myself a religious person, and my family has never really been prone to saying grace, except on holidays (especially when my Grandma is present). So when I was in Baltimore having lunch at a restaurant with some coworkers, I was a bit taken aback when one of them stopped us before we started eating and "forced" us to say grace with him. Not that I really mind - the guy was also a minister of some sort - but I thought it was a bit presumptuous of him to assume we'd be willing to join him in his prayer. Wouldn't it have been a bit more politically correct (though that's kind of a bad word these days) if he'd just quietly sat there and said it to himself? Which brings me to my other point: There's something comforting about seeing someone sitting down at a table in the cafeteria at work, closing their eyes, folding their hands and silently saying grace to themselves before eating their meal. Is this a contradiction to my first statement? Perhaps. But hey, blame the latter point on my religious upbringing, and the former on my rebellious streak. I embody contradiction.