What is real?

Lies, deceit, counterfeits, manipulation, and propaganda are not new things, but lately it feels like as all of this stuff is on the rise, so are the stakes. The blatant fakes came first and maybe we were innocently entertained, or at least curious, but flooding channels with seemingly innocent videos of talking fruits or dancing bears normalized the existence of fake content on our feeds. And so as the fakes have become more realistic, lines have become blurry. In addition to that previously trustworthy channels have taken the opportunity to rely on that inherent trust and normalized fakes to create perhaps the most convincing propaganda in history so far.  Top this all off with air-tight internet echo chambers and we have the perfect storm.

Is this real? Surely, this can’t be real. And so much of what we see is not real, so we can hope this isn’t either?

And even if a video is real, what’s the narrative they are spinning? What’s the context? What is actually happening? It feels nearly impossible to know.

Lucky for me, I sort of specialize in navigating the world of not knowing. I have been fighting to find peace in the storms of uncertainty my entire life. I’ve written an entire book with the thesis being: You don’t actually have to know.

I see the news. I see everyone’s hot takes on the news. I see people calling out other people for speaking out and others for staying silent. I see the confusion. I feel the confusion.

Is this real? How can this be real? Surely, this can’t be real.

This is when those talking fruit videos (or whatever weird AI content trend has infiltrated your algorithm) stop seeming so innocent. Because they trained my brain to normalize fake content. I’ve been trained to question everything because I have to question everything. Both because my personality demands it but also because our counterfeit world demands it.

The confusion of wondering if something is real keeps us quiet, because who are we to have an opinion when we don’t even know what’s real? But it also distracts us from the deeper question. A question that is far more simple to sort out than what is real.

Do you believe in the worth of a human soul?

That might seem like a deeper question, but it should be a very simple one.

Admittedly, I live in an echo chamber, especially on the internet. I really only see one side of the story unless I seek the other out. And in an effort to understand what is real, that’s exactly what I do. And generally, I find some sort of understandable “truth” on either side. At least a scrap of it.

But not this time.

This time the “facts” I see defending the actions of ICE are shockingly cold and inhumane.

“If they didn’t want to lose their kids they shouldn’t have come here illegally.”

“I don’t like the violence, but we have to vet immigrants and this is what it takes.”

“Your religion says you uphold the laws of the land, this is what that looks like.”

I was 11 the first time I went on a mental deep dive about how much I personally (again, at age 11), opposed the death penalty. I couldn’t reconcile how it was ever ok for one human to decide the final fate of another, and especially not by legal mandate. At age 38, I still can’t reconcile it. Man is not meant to play God.

In my faith it is quite common to reconcile confusion, doubt, and competing truths by saying “we just don’t understand it all yet.” And yet, we believe.

I am asking you to bring that energy to this. I try to avoid black and white thinking. I believe there is nuance is nearly everything. Nearly.

In my own personal faith, I have found peace by choosing to believe even when I don’t know. I choose to believe in the thing that’s makes me better. I choose to believe in the thing that invites hope and creates a path to light.

That path is this situation might seem like it looks like disengaging with the news, or choosing to believe the best in the motives of the government, or choosing to just focus on light and love instead.

But the faith I have fought to build isn’t threatened by darkness. I didn’t fight this hard for a faith that can only engage in ideal circumstances. My faith was built through battle, through facing my darkest days, through stepping into hopelessness. I don’t claim to know much, but I do know God is not afraid of dark and gritty battles. And I think we are being asked to engage in one.

I don’t know what is real, but I do know that I believe in the worth of a soul.

These “undocumented people” at risk aren’t hypothetical to me. They are who I go to church with. They are who my kids go to school with. They are real people. And not that it even matters because people don’t have to earn their worth in my world, but they are good people. Loving people. Hard working people. They are inspirational and aspirational people.

I’m not really concerned with the internet knowing where I stand or checking a box of performative action. Not worrying about what the internet thinks about me is a skill I had to learn a long time ago. I don’t have a hot take. I don’t have a solution. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what is real. I don’t think many people do. But as I was up all night with my mind running through it all, I ended up here.

Hold on to your source.

For me, that source is God. And my connection to God cuts through the noise. That connection guides me to unique action I can take. That God values the worth of a soul.

I’ve never believed that God is to be feared, but I think I feel that now for the first time in my life. God’s name is being used to manipulate, control, and harm. His name is being used to defend violence and supposed justice. His name is being used to confuse. And as someone who works to be someone who can claim Him, I believe I should fear what comes from using His name in vain.

It is my faith making me write this. I cannot claim God in one breath and defend dehumanization in the very next.

So no, I don’t know what’s real. But I do know how to act in uncertainty, and in this one very specific way, I’ve been prepared for this day.

Deep breath let’s go.