I'm starting to think "thoughts and prayers" might not mean what we think. Maybe it's some kind of code like "let's go Brandon."
Because if thoughts and prayers actually did anything the United States wouldn't have, by far, the highest mass murder rate in the world. The highest number of kids gunned down in schools. The highest number of worshippers meeting their maker in church. The highest number of shoppers taking the blue light special to the graveyard.
What most people who offer "thoughts and prayers" must really mean is "hands off my guns". You won't find those words printed in red in any Bible, but that doesn't mean you won't hear them in a church. A lot of preachers these days stand at the pulpit and pray with a pistol in their belt.
Let's note a whole lot more don't and wouldn't and for that I say thank goodness.
In Texas where the latest round of children were gunned down, the Attorney General, a thoughts and prayers guy if there ever was one, immediately noted gun laws wouldn't do any good because "we have laws against murder and those don't stop anybody". Now that's exactly what you want to hear from an Attorney General. By his logic, why have any laws if people are going to just break them?
That's a man that needs a vacation.
The truth is most of the folks who offer thoughts and prayers aren't thinking at all and are praying to the wrong altar. Because actual thinking, prayerful people know we have a problem and only we can fix it.
When an elected official suggests we "put it in god's hands", what they really mean is I'm doing nothing suckers. When one says we need to "turn to god" what they really mean is look the other way while I bow to money.
I say this because we don't elect people to turn problems over. They didn't get the big chair to pass problems down the line. We elect governors and representatives and senators and presidents and dog catchers to solve problems.
Nobody elected me recently, but here's a thought or two. Did you know a bar can be held liable if someone drives drunk and kills someone? Did you know ladder manufacturers have been held liable for people falling off them? How about McDonald's being sued for selling coffee that was too hot? Did you know Purdue Pharma is paying billions in court ordered fines for knowing their product was dangerous and selling it like candy anyway?
When gun manufacturers, lobbyists and retail establishments are held responsible for the lives their products and sales have taken in crimes, you better believe something will start to be done to keep weapons out of the wrong hands.
But you know, too many guns is one thing. Too many crazy people is a far greater issue. Universal healthcare that included mental health from cradle to grave for all Americans would make it possible to identify and treat the very fragile people who might one day snap.
There's no easy answer. But we know thoughts and prayers sure haven't worked, so maybe it's time to try something else.