Dealing With An Injured Friend.

[Winduponsundays]

So a former coworker and friend of mine , who is generally regarded as an extremely friendly person , recently got into a terrible accident. He was apparently drinking and driving ( admittedly inexcusable) and crashed into someones house. He's on life support at the hospital and my facebook feed is now littered with posts to pray for his recovery. Part of me wants to say I will because its comforting to some , but I know that its just wish-thinking and won't do any good , and it would be dishonest. I guess what I'm getting at is how instead of people saying things like " The doctors are working hard to save him" or " Modern medical science can work miracles" people would rather throw a coin into a mall fountain for him or pray. It's such a silly notion , and if I were a doctor , I'd probably resent the fact that people thank god first rather than the person who actually is doing all the work and saving them. We thank god for our modern conveniences that have only come to be because people at time have rejected the "truths" of religion and carved their own path. Now I want my friend to get better , and don't wanna sound like a dick , but part of me wants to say something along these lines. However I think that would make me like the religious , using a bad situation to push my own agenda.

[TrueFreedom]

I've been trying to communicate empathy and "hope" for the best in situations like that. It's always hard for me. I've been thinking about telling people that I will pray for them. I may even say a prayer to Asclepius or something.

[pandora]

I struggle with this too. A part of me wants to say something a little snarky, but the more compassionate side of me compels me to say I am thinking of them and that if they need anything, I'll be there to help in whatever way I can. Sometimes, I even say I'll pray for someone. Just yesterday, a friend of mine in an abusive relationship sent me a message detailing the latest drama and she begged me to pray for her. I said I would. She is a couple states away and I can't really help in any practical way, and she needs to feel empowered. In her state of mind and in her belief system, thinking someone is praying for her might give her the strength to get out of that horrible situation. As long as she doesn't think God will magically make it all better, and she isn't really that type, she will see prayer as God giving her the strength to do what she needs to do since she feels so weak right now. I sent her a book on how to get out of controlling relationships, too... my way of actually doing something about it when there isn't a whole lot I can do anyway.