Chaplain's Corner

“Falling through the cracks” is a phrased used when speaking about people who don’t really fit the parameters of social programming. For those of us who seek to help people access the help that is supposed to be available to them, we find that all too often these folks “fall through the cracks” – but why?

Occasionally I work with a person who is always falling through the cracks. She has some developmental disability, but the disabilities are not severe enough to make her eligible for the services of Envision, a community organization that does tremendous work with many who experience developmental disabilities. She has no mental health diagnosis so she is not eligible for the services of Community Mental Health. She is unable, because of the developmental challenges, to work and exists on social assistance, yet she needs more support than just a monthly check. The family has done a good job, but her parents are getting older and the stress of caring on top of other responsibilities is getting to a point where something needs to be done. But what? I can see it coming, she’s going to fall through the cracks.

I cared briefly for a guy who was in the hospital with some physical problems that were proving difficult to diagnose. He went from his family doctor to one specialist after another. Sometimes there were three or four months before he could get into see the next specialist, all the while he suffered not only from the disease that was proving difficult to diagnose, but with growing anxiety over the fear that no one would ever figure out what was happening and help him. As time went on, he grew physically and emotionally weaker and was ready to give up, he felt as if he had fallen through the cracks of a medical system that was mandated to help him, but was failing and there didn’t seem to be anyone who cared or if they did care, anyone who could do a blessed thing to help.

She was a widow that attended a church I pastored many years ago. Her husband died young, she had little education, she didn’t drive but she did work hard and did the best she could for her children, but she never had enough. She was resourceful, accessing the various food banks and soup kitchens in the community, but she wasn’t able to keep up with the bills, she wasn’t able to feed and clothe her children as they required and one day, after a teacher expressed a concern to Family Services, her children were apprehended, the reason given – neglect. This broke her heart. She was never able to meet the requirements to get her children back, she fell through the cracks.

He was fourteen years old, no longer a boy but not yet a man. His dad, well let’s just say that he wasn’t around anymore. His mom had three other children, worked two jobs to pay the bills and this young man needed some strong male guidance in his life, but there wasn’t any. For a while he came to the youth group at church. He was a quiet guy and unable to really articulate his needs. But after a while, when he just didn’t seem to fit in and nobody took much of an interest in him, he drifted away from the church. That’s when he had his first brush with the Law. Things went from bad to worse, he got in with the wrong crowd, at least they seemed to care about him and eventually ended up in prison. He just seemed to fall through the cracks until here were no cracks to fall through.

Now you could tell as many stories as I can about people who fall through the cracks. Maybe you have even been one of those people who have fallen through the cracks. We could play the blame game and point our fingers in any number of directions but that wouldn’t change anything. We could try our best never to let anyone we come into contact with fall through the cracks, but we personally don’t have the time, energy or resources to close all the cracks. We could throw up our hands in despair and conclude, “Oh well, that’s just the way things are.” And chances are, we have done all of these things and more in response to the way we feel when we encounter people that just don’t seem to fit into any of the programs that are designed to meet their needs. We might even be tempted to conclude, “Well, doesn’t God help those who help themselves?” Well, although many think this is a Bible verse, it isn’t, but that still does not excuse us from doing something about the people we know who seem to be falling throu
gh the cracks. I have tried a few strategies, as I encounter these people often in my work.

I have tried being the “savior”, no not “THE SAVIOR” but I have tried to rescue individuals from the tangled messes that they find themselves in. I have tried to set things straight, and you know, as many times as I have tried that, I just seem to make a bigger mess out of things and become one more person who has let the “needy one” down.

I have tried working with the systems, advocating for the person with needs, becoming their voice, standing up and saying to the people within the system – “Wait a minute, what are we going to do about this need?” Occasionally that has made a bit of a difference but most of the time I have been met with a cold and less than compassionate response, “I’m sorry, but this person does not meet the criterion of our program.”

Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you.” He didn’t say this to let us off the hook from reaching out and helping those who fall through the cracks, but one thing that we must understand from this is that it is not possible to eradicate poverty. Oh, I know our government has initiated programs to eradicate child poverty, but they miss the target dates for this goal all the time. Why, because poverty, neediness and brokenness are some of the most complex problems we face. The eradication of poverty would require a change in every human heart, a change that would require something that will only happen when the redeemed are translated to heaven.

But just because something is unattainable doesn’t let us off the hook. Jesus never taught us to disregard the poor, even though the eradication of poverty is not possible this side of heaven. What He taught us is to care for the poor we encounter, to give what we are able to give, to be the Good Samaritan when the opportunity arises. Jesus calls us to speak as “prophets” to the structures that oppress people, to advocate for the broken and needy and those who fall through the cracks, but when we fail, when we are ineffectual in being change agents – just keep on working at it.

Martin Luther King’s dream has yet to be fulfilled, but many continue to work at it. Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violent civil disobedience as a means to change social structures that are corrupt has worked but it has also failed at times and led to horrible atrocities. Jesus taught in his sermon on the Mont a life style and ethic that is noble and the pattern for Christian living yet in 2000 years the church and individual Christians have failed  many times to live by the model and ethic Jesus Taught. So, because all these have failed do we simply throw up our hands and say, There’s no use!” No.

I don’t know about you, but when I fail, when others fail when I run into road blocks and institutional inflexibility and those I seek to help keep falling through the cracks, I just keep trying. Some may think those of us who do this foolish Don Quixote’s. That’s okay with me. Sometimes I feel that way myself. But deep in my heart, despite the seeming fruitless efforts to help the less fortunate around me, the people beaten down by circumstances and pressures I have never known, I just can’t stop. I just can’t turn a blind eye and say, “Sorry, there’s nothing I can do.”

Many of you are the same and I applaud your passion, your commitment, and your unrelenting efforts to close the cracks and help those who seem to fall between them. Keep it up, fight the good fight and remember, God is the best evaluator of success and that evaluation is yet to come. Let’s live to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”