Another downside of Atheism...

This will be short, but I don't know about sweet...  Whenever I am feeling deeply empathetic for someone who is in some horrible physical or emotional pain, or who has experienced some terrible misfortune, and I cannot do anything to help them, I always have this impulse to "pray" for them, but quickly remember that I am not religious and I don't believe that praying for someone actually does them any good.  Not being able to help someone in pain is one of the worst feelings I know of, and it would be a great comfort to be able to "pray" for people when I knew I couldn't do anything else.  Unfortunately, instead of praying for people, I just worry about them and make myself sick and depressed.  I guess even if praying to a nonexistent god for the sad-looking, elderly man sitting by himself at a restaurant might not help him in any way, if I actually believed in God, my prayer would at least make me feel better.