As the school year comes to a close for a number of people through the United States, for a handful, so close to the finish line, there will be no celebrations of education; of learning. Instead, a good number will have celebrations of life in place of enjoying their summer vacation. For those slain in Uvalde, Texas, as well as all those injured, a great number of pundits will poise the idea of doing something to prevent this tragedy.

As President Biden has said: “I had hoped, when I became President, I would not have to do this again. Another massacre.  Uvalde, Texas.  An elementary school.  Beautiful, innocent second, third, fourth graders. … So, tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them, to give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now. As a nation, we have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?  When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?”

As Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said: “Why are we [in the Senate] if not to try and make sure fewer schools and communities go through what Sandy Hook has gone through, what Uvalde is going through. … I am here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and bed my colleagues: Find a path forward here.”

People known to stand well under pressure, such as comedians, are faltering under the weight of the bodies of children. Stephen Colbert choked up on live television when speaking of this tragedy.

Even non-political figures are in concurrence that enough is enough. Matthew McConaughey, whose hometown is Uvalde, stated, “We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue. This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better.”

Steve Kerr, coach for the Golden State Warriors, has questioned why nothing has been done, asking “I ask [our government], are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children…?”

Thousands are sending their thoughts and prayers to the bereaved, the battered, and those in between. Yet, when the media frenzy dies down, will those thoughts and prayers have any lasting impact on the pain inflicted? If one were to consider only the firearm tragedies at schools with six or more injuries, fatalities, or a combined mixture, the following is the result.

A total of 193 prayers have not been heard, or heard and ignored. Even with spirituality, which many turn to in hours of crisis and instances of pain, there lies condemnation of these thoughts and prayers; these injuries and deaths. In the King James Version, Isaiah 1:15, it is written “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.”

There have been 193 lives have been lost, among so many more, and we refuse to, as a society, to make and keep our children, and those who dedicate their lives to educating children, safe. That is a true tragedy, and we continue to cover it up with the thin veneer of thoughts and prayers. If we truly want to make certain that this will never happen again, as said after so many tragic events, then we won’t rely solely on thoughts and prayers. We must rely on action.