In times of national tragedy, our leaders routinely offer their “thoughts and prayers” and encourage us to do the same. This rarely has a real impact and we conclude that the problem is due to an insufficient volume of thoughts and prayers.
We ask Congress to authorize the construction of a high capacity thoughts and prayers (T&Ps) generator. The T&Ps could be created in real time or stockpiled for later use in the event of a national tragedy. Although the effectiveness of T&Ps in preventing future tragedies has yet to be demonstrated, the cost of such a device should be negligible relative to the expense in terms of dollars or political capital of taking concrete action.