Justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey~ Isaiah 59:14-15 NIV

  I am a peeping-tom on Twitter.

 I have a twitter account.

However.

I suspect I might have been shadow-banned after posting some political blogs during the 2016 election cycle. I think I’m down to a grand total of 33 followers. No one ever responds to anything I tweet so I never tweet anything. I never retweet other people’s stuff and I only occasionally comment on other people’s tweets. It’s just too much work. And frankly, I lack the cleverness, persistence and free time necessary to really make a difference on twitter. I also hate wasting what little creativity I have on what is basically just a modern-day freakshow of personal opinions.   

 Nevertheless,

 I do like skulking around the back alleys of twitter (metaphorically speaking). I follow people, watch videos, read tweets and form opinions about what I find. I totally get my behavior is borderline creepy but it allows me to see what’s going in that area of social media without actually getting involved in that area of social media.

 Such was the case this past weekend when I found a video of Diane Feinstein giving a group of sassy school kids a piece her mind after they challenged her on her unwillingness to simply sign on to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal.  Ms. Feinstein put on her stern Grandma face and informed the kids that she has been doing her job for a long time and that she understands the issues and the political landscape better than they ever could.

 I am not, nor will I ever be a supporter of Ms. Feinstein’s politics. She and I could not possibly be further apart on the political spectrum.  That being said, I almost started clapping when I heard her telling those jackbooted little sprogs some hard truths no one else has the wherewithal to tell them.

Here’s the thing.

 Adults are duty-bound to give kids an unpleasant dose of reality from time-to-time (Proverbs 29:15, 1^stCorinthians 13:11). When adults abdicate that responsibility, children grow up to believe anything is possible and some things simply aren’t not possible matter how badly we wish they were. I will never play in the NBA. I’m too short, too old and too female. It’s just not going to happen. I can identify as a tall, muscular man all day long, every day but I will never actually be one.

 We do want our kids to grow-up and dream big dreams.

Dreams are good.

That said, wise people also want them firmly grounded in reality. No one accomplishes anything in the real world when they’re living their life in the land of make-believe and dreams.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might actually make sense sometimes if she had an adult in her life who was wise enough (and kind enough) to gently challenge some of her more peculiar ideas when she was nine (Proverbs 17:29). 

 But, I digress.

 The vast majority of those on twitter did not agree with how Ms. Feinstein handled the situation. Most were fuming-mad that an old troll would crush the green dreams of fresh-faced little children who were just trying to save the planet. Some wondered if it was even okay for an old person to tell a young person what to do or think. Lots of folks were bitter that the Senator dared tell innocent youngsters that something they wanted is simply not possible. Some demanded she resign for her treatment of the children. There was even a petition calling for her impeachment (Proverbs 29:18). 

 Insert eye roll here.

 The whole messy muddle is more than just a silly story about a grumpy old lady and a bunch of mouthy kids.

 We are literally watching objective truth die right before our very eyes.

Seriously. It ought to scare the bejeebers out of all of us.

 There was a time in the not-so-distant past when it was thought to be an act of compassion to tell a person the truth about something even when that truth was hard to hear.  That ship has officially sailed.  Public schools routinely tell kids that if they believe they are a particular gender then they are that gender. Biology be damned, science is literally nothing compared to a child’s feelings about a particular subject. Men pretend to be women all the time and it is considered by many to be a hate crime to point out that those men dressed up like women might have some physical advantages over the women they are competing against in an athletic competition.  

 Truth has become an acceptable casualty anytime someone holds a passionate, deeply held belief about a particular subject. If someone thinks somebody else made a racist or sexist comment then they did. Period. There are no longer two sides to any story. The truth is so inconsequential that it is now considered acceptable to lie about whether or not one was attacked if the pretend attacker holds political beliefs the accuser and the majority finds unpleasant or intolerable.

 Sigh.

 It is critical we remember two truths in the midst of this cultural insanity. First, Christians serve a God who values truth to the point that He literally identified Himself as the physical embodiment of truth (John 14:6). Therefore, we represent our God best when we choose to live out truth in every area of our lives. Second, we must never forget it is still and will always be an act of compassion to speak hard truths as long as it is done in a spirit of love and grace (Ephesians 4:15).