#77 A WOMAN'S BRIEFS -- THOUGHTS & PRAYERS
This week, eleven-year-old, Julian Guzman, was shot in the back as he ran with his cousin from pranking a neighbor. Can’t you feel the child’s mixture of fear and hilarity? Ding-dong ditching is magical naughtiness, and is generations old. My childhood friends and I may have done it one summer’s night in Phoenix. I’ll bet my older brother had. He and a friend pranked me by smearing drops of blood from a cut on my brother’s hand to our home’s porch floor and front doorknob, building a story about a dangerous intruder now hiding in the orange grove next door. Kids do crazy things. Kids love pranks. Ring the neighbor’s doorbell and run! So fun for an eleven-year-old. Even TicTok says it’s fun.
When you are an adult sick of being pranked, when you have a tired wife and sleeping baby disturbed, when you are angry and you have a gun, and you too know how to run . . .
“Thoughts and prayers,” dear young boy, neatly dressed for the family birthday celebration he left long enough to play a prank. “Thoughts and prayers,” dear fed-up neighbor man, “Thoughts and prayers.”
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Let me tell you, if I know anything even ever so slightly, it would be about thoughts and prayers. I was one of those babies raised in the 1940s on a formula of Carnation evaporated milk mixed with water and Karo syrup, on the thoughts of Dr. Spock, and on prayers of the church twice Sundays, once Wednesday nights, and later through my own years of teaching Bible, seminary studies, and a slew of questions about it all. My crawling into bed as a toddler began from my knees after reciting the 17th century children’s prayer. “Now I lay me down to sleep . . . If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul might take.” I suppose the “might” part of that child’s prayer was necessitated by French theologian John Calvin’s belief that one dared not assume God’s favor, nor questioned his control.
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I was eighteen when twenty-three-year-old David Pine thought about giving me an engagement ring. We had dated for four years, but was I too young? He was a brand-new Second Lieutenant in pilot training, and I was finishing my first (only) semester of college. “Let’s pray about that,” said David’s mom.
It was Christmas Eve 1957, and while one shopping center had been built, important Phoenix shopping occurred downtown. David prayed, “If there is a parking space right in front of Rosenzweig Jewelers, I will buy Barbie a ring.” He turned the corner at 6th and Washington in his beige ‘57 Chevy Bel Air just as a car pulled away from the curb in front of Rosenzweig’s. He pulled in. So it was that on Christmas Eve 1957, we became engaged.
A thought ahead of an event. A prayer ahead of an event. A plan of action. That’s’ how it was, then.
Rosenzweig Jewelry store, Phoenix, AZ, est.1897
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In the 1990s, Americans had guns, and 69 Mass killings resulting in 603 people dead or injured. Math being not my best subject, I counted twice. I could be wrong, but not very.
Sixty-nine times we Americans extended thoughts and prayers
Japan had . . . Oh, wait. In Japan there are “no records of mass killings, technically defined as killing of three or more people in a single event.”
AI tells me that “Japanese citizens can own guns, but under exceptionally strict regulations. Only shotguns and airguns are permissible for civilians, not handguns or rifles. To get a license, applicants must pass numerous tests (including mental health and drug screenings), undergo thorough background checks, and complete mandatory training. Guns must also be registered.”
There has been one mass shooting in secular Australia since that country’s National Firearms Agreement that tightened gun laws after a horrible 1996 massacre. The “trend (of mass shootings) stopped after the reforms were implemented.”
Thoughts. Prayers. Action.
On May 1, 2020 the Government of Canada prohibited over 1,500 models of assault-style firearms.
According to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, There were 109 public mass shootings in the United States and 35 public mass shootings in 35 other economically and politically comparative countries between 2000 and 2022. Think of the times we’ve said, “Thoughts and Prayers.”
If you’re interested, the most popular month for mass shootings in America is July, with 800 such summer events. The month with the most casualties is June, with 826 recorded mass shooting deaths attributed. In 2024, the deadliest month was June/80 dead; July/70; May/54/January/46; March/44. I say, to be safe, maybe in summer months we Americans who are bold about protecting our rights, should stay away from places of worship, schools, bars, and festivities.
Lots of Thoughts & Prayers
We have reached 2025 with its nine mass shootings as of this September 1st writing. The latest, fresh in our newscasts and minds, aimed through a church stained-glass window at children who were participating in prayers. Is that ironic or what? An AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle delivered about 116 rounds to little objects called children, managing to kill two on the spot, and injure another eighteen.
Lots of thoughts & prayers that week, lots.
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In 1957, when David and his mom exercised thoughts and prayers, the phrase was weighted with meaning and purpose. Now, I confess, like the F-word, or the phrase, “out of an abundance of caution,” “Thoughts and prayers” is worn out. What is in those thoughts? Tawdry tropes much of the time.
What are we saying to God, to gods, to the Universe, when after the tragedy, we say we are praying? Are we appealing to something other than ourselves not only to provide the parking space, but to do the parking? To buy the ring? Since it seems God is doing nothing about senseless shootings, could it be that doing something about them is up to us?
The preacher of Ecclesiastes wrote, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. An eleven-year-old did. A furious neighbor did. We? We as a nation actively offer thoughts and prayers.
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