The New/Old Social Pandemic, Part 2

The New-Old Social Pandemic, Part 2

“’Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘…just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’” . Matthew 25:44-45 (NRSV)

An epidemic is a condition, usually medical in nature, that affects a large number of people over a period of time. A pandemic is an epidemic that infects people across an extensive area, like a country. The causes of epidemics and pandemics are generally seen as harmful outsiders, like an alien viral strain that invades and sickens individuals, who then pass it along to others. When a condition is endemic, the offending disorder is embeded in our internal systems, so instead of invading from the outside, it lies latent within our bodily systems until conditions encourage its emergence. For example, the COVID-19 virus began as an illness attacking individuals from outside of themselves. Because of its highly contageous nature, it quickly spread to others and became an epidemic. In a matter of months, it spread widely across large geographic areas and became a national and multi-national pandemic. No one considers COVID as endemic to humans, however, because we must be infected by it from outside of ourselves.

We can also apply these terms to organizational structures, particularly those of governments, and find similar processes at play. Although the social crises of homelessness, marginalization, and immigration are not directly medical in nature, they have many types of serious health risks for individuals and society over time. The invading conditions infecting organizations and nations are social, economic, legal, and political in nature, but they are no less infectious to the populations touched by those organizations than are alien pathogens to individuals.

The title for this series of essays, “The New-Old Social Pandemic,” expresses my view about the increasingly pervasive crises of homelessness, marginalization, and immigration. The conditions are not new, in that they have long impacted individuals. What is new is the rapidly increasing numbers of those infected, as well as its pervasiveness over extended geographic areas. The social conditions of homelessness, marginalization, and immigration were, until recently, largely individual concerns that have since grown into epidemics and are quickly exploding into a pandemic.

Many of the root causes of homelessness, marginalization, and immigration challenges arise from the social structures that once allowed for large swaths of the population to prosper, at least materially. Those same social systems, by design, always excluded many folks from the prosperity they bestowed upon others, however. Those excluded were mostly non-white, non-heterosexual, non-Christian (defined in various ways), mentally ill, and others deemed as outside of the norm.

It is increasingly apparent, at least to me, that this social pandemic is endemic to our social structures. In other words, instead of being limited to the unique circumstances of a relatively few individuals, as has been argued in the past, the infecting conditions are embeded within and emerging from the designed functioning (or dysfunctioning) of our social systems, including the laws, rules, and regulations of many governmental agencies that are tasked with providing and enforcing social order.

I have never been homeless, never a part of a marginalized group or an immigrant. I write these thoughts as a priviledged outsider looking in. As a white, heterosexual, Christian male, I am a person who benefits greatly from the current social structures. But the crises of homelessness, marginalization, and immigration are no longer easily-ignored problems out there. They are emerging everywhere. They have intruded into my priviledged and comfortable space, leaving me with two choices: (1) ignore the issues and hope they migrate elsewhere, or (2) use my priviledged status to help mitigate the problems, at the risk of destabilizing my comfortable existence.

Many devotees of Donald Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement attempt a misguided hybrid of the two options by trying to force those suffering from these conditions to move elsewhere – back under the bridges, back into the shadows, or back to their oppressive home countries. Many of those same people apparently see no inconsistency between that sort of treatment of other human beings – their neighbors – with the life and teachings of Jesus. For serious Christians, as students and followers of Jesus, the choice is not whether to address the suffering of the homeless, marginalized, and immigrants, but how. And the time for action is not ambiguous; the time is now.

This is the 2^nd in a series about The New-Old Social Pandemic. The opinions expressed here are mine. To engage with me or to explore contemplative spiritual direction, contact me at ghildenbrand@sunflower.com.

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Conversations on Death and Dying, Discussions about using death as an advisor, 8 week course beginning on February 8, Thursday evenings, 7:00pm, First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont, Lawrence, KS, contact ghildenbrand@sunflower.com for information.

A Morning with John Dear, author and peace activist, discussing his new book, The Gospel of Peace. Saturday, March 2, 2024 at St. Therese Little Flower Parish, 5814 Euclid Ave, Kansas City, MO. Event is free, but must register at www.contemporaryspirituality.net.