#PrayForDailyNews

#PrayForDailyNews

kingprayer4n-7-webIt was the bombings and the sacrifices. Then it was terrorism and the hostages situations. And again, without mercy, another mass shooting. These bouts of unforeseen savagery have been felt in Beirut, Paris, Mali, and more recently San Bernardino, U.S. The world has had barely enough time to recover from one instance of carnage to the next, and now the world cannot comprehend the pattern of these sudden instabilities.

With the recent surge of politically heated issues regarding current world catastrophes comes opportunities for public debate. Liberation of mute expression among individuals has brought forth the introduction of an idea known as political correctness, or PC, and has become the new social trend— hypersensitivity amongst various individuals, making them offended by almost any and everything.

The PC movement has been closely followed by a new overly sensitive reaction to the world’s response in contemplation through the phrase “#PrayFor(…).” The New York Daily News cover headline on Dec. 4 read: “God isn’t fixing this,” a statement addressing the guise of prayer being “inactive support.” This extreme and pointed declaration against prayerful solidarity is yet another radical perspective failing in common sense. The United States now has global attention and faces the scrutiny of the world as her very own betray and reject the founding principles of her values.

Prayer comes in many forms even for those who are not religious. It is meditation or means of dealing with the endless heartbreak in the midst of this broken world. Prayer, in its many forms, is paying tribute to those unfairly taken, letting them go in dignity and with pride. Through prayer, the world slowly is able to process the horror that humanity is capable of. Once we come to terms with reality, prayer is the winning response against terror that keeps us from giving in to the same immorality and ignorance that identifies corruption.

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The New York Daily News headline reflects thoughts of just another groupie directing their guilt and frustration by blaming our best intentions and the little hope being offered, for a lack of “action,” when they themselves have not mitigated problems in any situations. What better is placing our faith in incompetent politicians making up our governments?

Have you ever truly thought about the burden this loaded call to action carries? This demand for justice is not just diplomatic papers that can end suffering. It is also a call for more warfare and more violence. The inevitability of reality is the endless continuation of wars and the rise of new ones. Taking action only temporarily alleviates distress, or may slow it down.

What many do not realize, is that prayer is action. It is not solely an advocate for pacifism or a passive attitude. Prayer makes the world stronger together by helping people stand strong in the midst of tragedy.

Therefore, no. No we will not stop praying, because that is our way of fighting. Prayer is our weapon for battling our anguish and showing that we care, even for those telling us that they do not need our useless compassion. Those opposing prayer and advocating immediate action should stop spitting out words that do nothing but state the obvious. They should stop wasting their breath when their calls for immediate action are impulsive and dangerous as they claim prayer is cowardly and fake. We admit, prayer cannot resolve everything, but neither can the call for reactionary rhetoric, so doesn’t that make them cowards as well?

“God isn’t fixing this?” They aren’t fixing anything either.

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  • K

    Kaitlynn SchmurrDec 8, 2015 at 10:17 am

    Beautifully written Kathleen, loved your angle and really appreciated how it may be an opinion piece but you kept a lot of your personal life out, speaking on a global scale, which was very well done. I’m very proud of this article for you, I’d love to see more like it:)

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  • J

    Jacob StewartDec 7, 2015 at 11:07 pm

    Political correctness (PC) is not a fad or a movement its common decency, take my name for example Jacob, say I preferred Jake there’s nothing wrong with Jacob, but I prefer Jake why would you insist on calling me Jacob? its very clear I prefer Jacob, so why wouldn’t you call a janitor a custodian. PC isn’t just avoiding offensive words its crafting your speech as if not to offend someone by accident.

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