Praying is very popular on Facebook. Whenever someone announces they are ill, or that their mother died or their house was flooded or they broke their ankle in three places and will be bedridden for two months, instead of actually saying something concrete, people just write "Prayers" or "Sending prayers," and think they have done something. Nobody writes, "I'm sorry you are going through this terrible ordeal, please tell me how I can help -- I'll bring you dinner or walk your dog or pick up your kids from school or visit you in the hospital, just name it and it's yours." Nope, they just say "Prayers" and that's that.
Personally I have always thought that wishing, hoping and praying are three of the most overrated activities humans engage in, and wonder if other species do the same. It's hard to imagine a squirrel sitting on his fluffy tail inside his comfy nest (or burrow or whatever it is they sit inside) thinking, "Oh Great Squirrel, please let me find a lot of acorns for the coming winter." Not likely, which is why you see them always running around, scurrying hither and yon and especially up the pole to my bird feeder, on the hunt for food.
Having done my share of wishing, hoping and praying, I am sorry to report that none of it works. For example, I hoped and wished, and finally even prayed really hard that John Kasich would win the Republican nomination and ultimately the presidency in 2016, and we all know how that turned out. I recently looked up those words in the dictionary and this is what I found:
to hope: want something to happen or be the case
to wish: want something that probably cannot or will not happen
to pray: address a solemn request to a deity or other object of worship
This explains why I haven't lost those stubborn ten pounds.
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