In a time filled with controversy, it’s easy to be overwhelmed, sickened, and saddened by what we witness every day. Seeing so many people that are hurting and angry is both heart wrenching and infuriating, making it easy to want to jump into action and fight.

But beyond the immediate need to defend, I believe there is a bigger solution that would help our society in the long run: faith.

A lot of people associate faith solely with religion, but in reality, it can be so much more than that. One way to define faith is “believing without seeing.” And this is the definition that has changed my perspective.

Growing up in today’s society, where we have the ability to measure and analyze almost anything to a degree of precision, it’s hard to have faith. The truth is, some of the most important things in life can’t be measured or evaluated. Sometimes its hard to believe in something without physical proof or evidence, but that is exactly what makes faith so powerful.

Faith requires a surrender of yourself, of your want for knowledge and immediate understanding, and it requires trust in something bigger and intangible. I propose that faith has a three-folds which, when properly understood, could help us change the world.

Faith in God.

Again, faith does not solely apply to religion. It applies to everyone and goes far beyond God. No matter what your belief system regarding God—even if you don’t believe in God at all—you are relying on faith. No one can provide concrete, tangible evidence as to what (if anything) lies beyond this life until they have left this life, and at that point it’s too late. So even if you believe that God does not exist, it’s still believing without seeing, it’s still faith.

For those who do believe in some god, at a time of conflict like this, it can be hard to understand why this is happening. We can choose to believe that some bigger plan exists, and although it can be near impossible to understand the reasons, we are constantly moving towards an end goal. This plan is probably more complex than we could even imagine; it’s a perfect example of faith because we cannot see it, yet we choose to believe that it exists.

And this is not to say that we should passively watch this plan work itself out—we are part of the plan! Our action or inaction makes an impact on this plan, we just have to believe that every event that happens, no matter how good, bad, or ugly, is working towards something bigger.

Faith in yourself.

It’s easy to feel like you, as an individual, don’t have an impact, or that your actions can’t be important enough to make a difference. But that’s not true. Even if you can’t see the immediate impact of your actions, words, and efforts, you must choose to believe that they do. And it is up to you to decide what type of difference you want to make, and how you want to bring that about.

Relating this back to our current state, we each need to have faith in ourselves, in our own moral compasses. We have to ignore the examples being set for us—by our friends, family members, or even our country’s leader—and we have to act in a way that we feel is just, based on our morals and our values.

As a child you were probably asked, “If all of your friends jumped off of a cliff, would you jump, too?” Just because someone says it is appropriate to do something or act a certain way, doesn’t mean you have to act that way. If you know in your heart that it is wrong, you shouldn’t follow that person’s example.

Now ideally, you were raised in a loving environment that taught you that all people are equals, and you are no better than anyone else. Hopefully you were taught to love and show compassion towards everyone, no matter their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, gender, or any other fact that makes them different or similar from you. No matter what, human beings deserve to be treated with kindness and respect. And if you weren’t taught that previously, it’s never too late to learn.

You have to have faith in yourself for this to work. You have to believe that you can maintain a standard for yourself. Maybe you have to reevaluate your own standards, see what else you can do to help each other, help your neighbors, and in the long run, help yourself to be the most compassionate, gracious, and understanding person that you can be. It’s not too much to ask of yourself—you are stronger than you can even imagine. Half of the battle is just believing in your own capability. You have to have faith in yourself.

Faith in other people.

This is probably the most difficult kind of faith to have. Having faith in someone else, in humanity in general, requires full surrender of control. You have to accept that everyone makes their own decisions based on their past experiences and judgment. They may not realize that you are trying to have faith in them or that they are just as responsible as anyone else for how they react in any given situation.

But once we start to have faith in other people, we can grow. It may be idealism, but I believe that the majority of people on this earth are good. And yes, sometimes people betray our trust or abuse our faith. Those people doing bad often get more attention than those doing good. We are going to encounter people that hurt us, but those are the people that we need to show our faith in the most. Those are the people who probably don’t have faith in themselves. Those are the people who probably don’t have faith in others, which is why they lash out in such hurtful ways.

So if we can rise above and show them that we have faith in them, and that we hold them somewhat accountable for our well-being and safety, that is when they can change. They can realize what they’ve done and start to have faith in themselves. When it’s hardest to have faith in someone—that is when it is most important. That is when we should lead by example. That is when we ought to show them why they should have faith in us.

And I don’t think this view is naiive or ignorant, it’s not trivializing anything that is going on. It’s just hopeful. And I am choosing to believe that the majority of people in this world are good

and will do good

and will fight for good

and will win, using good.

Even though it can be really hard to see that good in the world right now, I do believe that I will see it soon, and until then, I’m choosing to believe without seeing. I’m choosing to have faith.