In this day and age of satellites able to read from outer space the date on a dime, or Google Maps seemingly able to show us any place in the world, there remains a large part of the planet that is unmapped. Author Deirdre Mask, who wrote The Address Book, suggests that about 70% of the world is insufficiently mapped, including parts of many cities with more than a million residents. Invariably, the unmapped areas are in the poorest sections of these cities. The is problematic on many levels. Without good maps, how can police or ambulance drivers find their way to people in need? Without good maps, how do public health officials know if everyone’s been vaccinated during a pandemic? Without good maps, how do we know who our neighbors are and how they are surviving in our global village?
Mask quoted a Brazilian scientist who studied the public health risk from poisonous snake bites and observed “Where there are snakes, there are no statistics; and where there are statistics, there are no snakes.” This means that problems are most effectively dealt with where there are maps, data, and statistics—but without such things, health crises abound.
How often have you been driving around Pittsburgh and you stumble onto a new route or neighborhood that prompts you to say, “I never knew this was here!” Our city is full of fascinating boroughs, small-town shopping districts, and strip malls that are hidden from view unless you happen to live nearby. We don’t see these places because we are creatures of habit—prone to driving the same routes every day, whether going to work, shop, or check in with friends. The problem is that these same habits make us creatures of limited “sight” and over time can lead us not to “see” what is happening all around us.
Consider for a moment how the simple task of mapping and assigning addresses for people can literally change lives. Subhashis is an Indian social worker who assigned street addresses to Kolkata’s slums so that residents there can apply for passports and open bank accounts. Sarah, a U.S. law student, works to bar employers from demanding a job applicant’s home address since homeless employment seekers don’t have one. And Benjamin, a disgruntled Floridian, shows up at his City Council meetings to complain about neighborhoods in his historically Black neighborhood still bearing the names of Confederate generals.
There’s a reason Jesus said that God knows even the number of hairs on our heads, and no sparrow falls to the ground outside of God’s knowledge. In a world where we selectively map our communities and selectively know our neighbors, God rejects such partial responses and knows us completely. Each back street, alley, and slum pathway is mapped and known to God, including all who live there. Each person hidden behind an overlooked door or forgotten apartment high-rise is seen and loved by God.
As a new year begins and a pandemic’s curse will hopefully be thwarted by vaccines, may the medical challenge of reaching out to all people to fight COVID-19 be a parable also for the spiritual work before us. In 2021, may we go forth into the world, intentionally seeking the lost, the lonely, the unmapped, the neglected, and the forgotten. Even just a little light can shine a long way in such places of darkness.
—Randy Bush