I'm praying for....!

[malthaussen]

13. I'd tentaively guess it has to do with who's doing the praying...

When the "typical-man-in-the-street" is interviewed about distant events and comes out with "I'm praying for them," I think it is just a public way to express sympathy, especially when there isn't much tangible they can do.

When a public figure comes out with it, I think it is just a cheap way to garner more publicity, since a rich person can always do something tangible about a problem if he wishes. But then events like Newtown are a gray area, since throwing money at it won't fix it.

-- Mal