Almost without fail, in the aftermath of tragedies
such as what happened just hours ago in Paris, media outlets and various social media venues become overflowing with people uttering the statement, “Our thoughts and prayers are for (insert tragedy here).” Is prayer a magical thing that makes all of the pain and hurt go away? Are thoughts as effective as actions? The answer to these questions is a resounding NO. Sure, they sound good. In a society that thrives on feeling like they are doing something without expending any effort, it makes sense that such sentiments would come pouring out of mouths and keyboards around the world. But wait a minute. If we state that our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of such tragedies, shouldn’t there be more peace and less bloodshed in the world?
From a scientific approach, you would expect to see the rates of terrorism and mass shootings to go down with all of the thoughts and prayers that go spinning through the cosmos after such incidents if thoughts and prayers were effective. However, this does not seem to be the case. Ergo, one could conclude that thoughts and prayers are not effective at reducing the number of lives lost due to mass shootings or acts of terrorism. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t pray for the victims and survivors of such events, as that would be me imposing my beliefs upon another. However, what I am saying is that prayer is like masturbation...it feels good for the person doing it, but it does nothing for others.
