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Thoughts And Prayers
Empty words of solace.
When tragedy strikes, it’s common to offer thoughts and prayers. Often, there is little more most people can offer.
Praying is a way of acknowledging the pain others are experiencing as a result of tragedy. It’s a way of being there with them in their grief. It’s a form of consolation.
But, when those words offering thoughts and prayers come from our political leaders or from captains of industry or from the authorities who protected the perpetrators instead of listening to the cries of the victims, those words are hollow. They don’t mean anything of value.
Offering thoughts and prayers has become code for leaders to say they know what happened or is happening is a tragedy but they’re not going to do anything about it apart from offer empty words of comfort, despite their leadership position. It’s basically a way for leaders to deflect responsibility and allow such tragedies to continue or happen again.
What’s the point of offering thoughts and prayers for the people of Gaza if, at the same time, you’re supporting Hamas or the Israeli action against them?