"My Thoughts & Prayers": Why All the Controversy Over These 4 Words? by Matthew Lister

After the recent school shootings, a lot of people have been making the statement about how hollow offering “thoughts and prayers” are to those who were victims or survivors. It has reached the level of being a controversy.

But I ask, what controversy?

I understand some people feel that “thoughts and prayers" may be hollow – almost like saying “I love you” to everyone and everything that we see or hear about. Pretty soon, “I love you” loses its significant because it does not seem sincere, nor even well-meaning.

But sometimes when I have nothing else to give or know the right words to say, “my thoughts and prayers” is all I have to give that indicates that I have some feelings of your situation. I do not have money to send, nor do I fully understand the pain that they are going through. But I feel empathy, compassion and feel a sense of pain because I know that could be any one of our loved ones at any time. So all I really have to give is my thoughts and prayers. 

I think about those shootings every day, and when I pray, I really do think about those victims and survivors. So I'm following through on what I am offering. It is all I have to offer, but at least I am sincere.