Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
The Preppers, the Can Opener, and the Plight of the Homeless

The Preppers, the Can Opener, and the Plight of the Homeless

Last updated on: February 22, 2021 at 1:41 am by Mary Pezzulo

The Preppers, the Can Opener, and the Plight of the Homeless 2021-02-22T01:41:40-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve just discovered a whole catalog of things that will be great for helping the homeless. I came across it when I was trying not to laugh at the preppers who didn’t have a can opener.

In case you missed it, earlier this week a Twitter thread went viral about some libertarian preppers– that is, people who are convinced the collapse of civilization is immanent, that it will be brought about by the tyranny of the milquetoast Democratic party, and that they personally can survive such a cataclysm by stockpiling guns, ammunition, canned food, drinking water and the like so they can camp out and defend themselves indefinitely when it happens. This particular family of preppers drilled with their guns on the weekends and had a CB license for when the cell phone towers went down. But they had naively assumed they’d somehow have electricity or at least gas during the time of tribulation, and were blindsided when the utilities went out in their home state of Texas. Even their fire pit outdoors was gas-powered. They apparently didn’t think to put the food from their fridge in the garage to stay cold after the fridge stopped working, a trick Midwesterners know well but Texans apparently haven’t heard of. Next thing they knew, the perishable food had spoiled. They were forced to break into their prepper stockpile of cans and eat them cold. That was when they realized that their only can opener was electric. They had automatic weapons but no mechanical can opener.

There is nothing funny about the infrastructure and climate change nightmare playing out in Texas right now. The citizens of Texas, on the whole, aren’t really responsible for this. They deserve our compassion and help. And there’s nothing funny about a family trapped in the cold during a snow emergency realizing they don’t have a can opener. But I grew up in the Charismatic Renewal. I knew people who acted like a baptized version of a prepper. People in our community glumly believed that a cataclysm was coming, three days of darkness when we’d have to barricade ourselves inside in the dark to hide from demons. Of course, before then there would be a great persecution and most of us would be murdered by communists and gay people. Some nights I couldn’t sleep thinking about that kind of thing. It was a genuine trauma. Everything about preppers makes me feel like I’m going to flash back. And stories about preppers comically foiled by stockpiling guns but not more practical gear make me snort-laugh as a stress reaction. So I was laughing at the story of the preppers who couldn’t open their beefaroni.

“On the plus side they’ve got plenty of guns and ammo, so they can shoot the s** out of the snow*,” said the Twitter thread, and I thought I would cry with suppressed giggles.

I wondered if preppers were, on the whole, really that scatterbrained. I started looking at an online prepper catalog to find out the kind of organization that goes into that lifestyle. The catalogs do sell can openers, for the record. And then I was on the verge of tears again, for a different reason.

Many of the things in the catalogs are good to have on hand. Everyone needs smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, as I found out earlier this winter. It’s probably good to have an emergency kit in the car and in the house in case of a crash or a power outage. But so much of this stuff– stuff that affluent paranoid people order so that it can sit unused in their prepper supply closet until it expires— could save the lives of homeless people and provide them with a modicum of comfort and dignity as well.

Take these hygiene kits, for example. They only cost four dollars each and they have a toothbrush and toothpaste, sanitary napkins, wet wipes, soap and a few other items. You could buy a whole stack of them to donate to a homeless shelter, and then keep another stack in your car along with non-perishable snacks and bottled water, to hand out to homeless people you meet. That could be a great help. And here are blankets to hand out with them. With COVID-19 regulations, a lot of places that would love to shelter as many homeless people as they can cram from end to end find themselves unable to take more than a few. Lots of people are trapped sleeping outside in this cold. Emergency blankets and sleeping bags could keep them alive another night. Also with COVID, the homeless need to protect themselves, but they can’t go inside and launder a bunch of cloth masks. Here’s a stockpile of disposable masks we could pass out.

The first time I ever met and talked to homeless people was when I lived in Columbus. I visited their camp with the preacher I knew; that was the first time I had any idea that homeless people were camping outdoors year round in Columbus. When I asked them what they needed most, they said they needed food, socks, toilet paper and propane. I realized in horror that they were relieving themselves right outside in their camp, and cooking their food out here too. The thought of people right in my city living in such unsanitary conditions made me shudder, and still does. Well, the prepper catalog has a toilet kit. Of course, it’s nothing like as dignified as giving them a place to come inside to use the bathroom, but in an emergency, this is more sanitary and dignified than the bushes. And for heating up their food, there are stoves and fuel. And yes, there are can openers on that same catalog page as well. There are even self-heating meals.

Here are warm tents.

Here are first aid kits.

Here’s a heater.

Homeless people could use all of this.

That was when it struck me: homeless people are not awaiting the eventual collapse of society. Homeless people are people for whom society already collapsed. I don’t think it will permanently collapse for the preppers in the way they fantasize about. But that worst case scenario is already real for the homeless.

It’s horrifying to remember that we live in a society where well-to-do people can stockpile all these supplies for the collapse of civilization– and meanwhile, there are people who live in civilization’s collapse every day of their lives, without help. We have people who make stockpiling, drilling and practicing for the End Times a hobby, and people who might as well live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland every day. Well-to-do people making comically bad use of the supplies they’ve stocked up when they do face a disaster, and people for whom disaster is their everyday state. Stories of preppers eating cold ravioli go viral, and homeless people die on the street unnoticed.

As Christians, it’s important to remember that we have only one hope of escaping the coming wrath. Because one way or another, the collapse of everything we know will come. We each have something less than one lifetime before we die. And nothing we’ve stockpiled on this earth will help us then.

The only thing that will help, is mercy. The mercy God shows us. And, somehow, by a way I can’t explain, the mercy we’ve shown others.

We have no business making fools of ourselves stockpiling supplies we won’t be able to use when the collapse of society comes– least of all when there are people who actually need them living in our society right now. We as Christians ought to prepare for the collapse of everything we know, by working as hard as we can for those society has already failed.

Not doing so would be as pointless as stockpiling bullets without a can opener.

Image via Pixabay

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy. Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Previous Post

February 20, 2021

The Mystery of Saint Francis and the Pixie Cut

Next Post

February 22, 2021 Charismatics, Superstition, and the Real Origin of the Peace Sign

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Gospel was written by a doctor?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Luke Matthew Mark John