Let’s be honest: so far 2017 has been a horrible year for everyone. Almost every week there is a new disaster or tragedy that leaves people devastated. The productive way for the rest of the world to respond to these tragedies is to help the victims by donating their time and money. Instead, most decide to respond to the situation on Twitter by offering their prayers, condolences, and political opinions. None of these are helpful or constructive. It’s fine if people want to pray for others in their times of need, that’s a compassionate response from a religious individual, but why does it have to be posted somewhere? There’s no reason for these prayers to be posted. I promise that people whose homes were destroyed in a hurricane and whose family members were killed in a shooting will not be looking at Twitter and feeling relieved and gratified that Becky from Wisconsin is thinking about them and praying for them. The only reason I can come up with is that people post messages like this because they want attention and recognition for being a good person despite them not actually doing anything to help.
Using other people’s devastation and struggles to raise your own self-esteem and public image is low, but what’s even worse is using a tragedy to blame the victims or push a political agenda. After every mass shooting there are people pushing for tighter restrictions on guns and making the victims the poster child for a cause they may not have even supported. Even if gun control is a good thing there’s an appropriate time and a place to make a case for it and a funeral isn’t that place. After Puerto Rico was ravaged by hurricane Maria, our own commander in chief Donald Trump used the destruction to show how put together his administration is and blamed Puerto Rican mayor Yulin Cruz for the damage.
After destructive hurricanes organizations like the Red Cross will accept donations to send supplies and help rebuild, after a terrible shooting there are usually organizations dedicated to easing the burden facing the family of the victims and that will take care of funeral costs. Invest your time and efforts in those places before taking to Twitter.