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Flavorless Grace: When Saying Grace Becomes Habit, Not Gratitude
A Poetic Reflection on Faith, Tradition, and the Meaning Behind Our Words
We are taught to give thanks before we receive—to bow our heads, to speak words of gratitude, to make a ritual of appreciation. But what happens when those words lose their weight, when they become mere muscle memory, recited out of habit rather than meaning? Flavorless Grace explores this tension, using the metaphor of an unremarkable meal to critique the ways tradition can strip itself of sincerity.
Flavorless Grace
You need me to be gracious
Well… I don’t see the point.
I said my grace plenty of times and learned that the only return is to the porcelain throne.
Thirty seconds of tongue tickling muscle memory dribbles out of my mouth and onto my plate.
Not unsimilar from a side of gravy with no black pepper.
Thick.
Offcolor.
Unremarkable.
Indoctrination, doused in rhyme and efficiency.
The quicker the grace,
the closer to dinner.
Remember, Mabel, keep your elbows off the table.
