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In Defense of Band-Aids, by Ed Loring
N o v e m b e r 1 9 8 8
Hospitality to the Homeless ˜ 101
Sometimes I feel caught in a whirlwind of unfortunate dichotomies. Recently
I listened to some juxtapose the concern for the whales trapped off the
shores of Alaska with the concern for the homeless trapped on the streets in Atlanta.
That juxtaposition is unfortunate, because the God of Creation cares for
each and every creature, like a shepherdess who seeks for one lost sheep. The
God of Redemption, whose justice demands shelter for whales from Arctic
winds, is also the God of the Bible, who demands the benefits of our society
(i.e., houses, jobs, medical care, etc.) for the sojourner and the outcast.
I vividly remember standing before a committee of the Atlanta City Council
during the winter of 1983 and being horrified that a city that would not respond
to the homeless (although twenty-one persons froze to death in one week)
had purchased extra heaters for the animals at the city zoo. I did not, however,
begrudge the elephant her heater; I simply felt grief and anger toward the city
officials whose lives are so isolated from the poor that it took frozen corpses to
get their attention.
Most of those who care for our earth and all its inhabitants also struggle for
justice; just like those who pollute the air and defend TV commercials or cigarette
sales are the same folk who blame the poor for their poverty and believe the
ACLU is an enemy of the Bill of Rights.
There are a myriad of dichotomies that seek to split us in two and to make
our already unfocused and confused lives more schizophrenic. (The biblical
word for the devil is the “Confuser.”) Some folk pit spirituality and prayer
against a life of activism and political effort. In our churches remain those who
seek lost souls and others who understand the mission of the church in terms of
social concerns. Within the camp of socially concerned are those who seek to aid
hurting persons and others who fight to change the systems of abuse and injustice.
This latter split is often referred to as the charity-justice polarity, or the
Band-Aids versus root-causes approach. I wish to address this latter issue with
the understanding that all these divisions need healing. All these divisions need
to be woven into the single fabric of wholeness from which they were rent. Activism
without spiritual discipline and prayer Absurd.
Band-Aids are wonderful. Cuts, scrapes, blisters, and sores hurt. Band-Aids
help stop the pain and suffering. Band-Aids also retard, if not halt, infection and
thereby often save toes, fingers, hands, and lives. We use Band-Aids everyday. A
friend comes out of a weed patch with a shallow rodent bite, and we are able to
bathe the wound and put on a Band-Aid. You cannot do that, however, if you
do not locate your body in close proximity to the homeless ones of God. Of