I heard a song about this past week’s assassination of Charlie Kirk titled, “The Shot Heard Round the World.”
I believe it was just that.
Let me start by saying I didn’t see or hear Charlie often. But I gauged him to be a decent fellow. Wholesome looking, family man, bright and articulate with a relaxed and friendly confidence that gave him charisma.
If you never heard of him, he’s a guy who went around to university campuses all over the country to talk with students about anything they wanted to talk about.
He drew huge gatherings. News of him spread, primarily among young adults, all around the world.
His views have been labeled many things, depending on who’s doing the labeling.
He talked openly about his Christian faith, his love for his family and for his country. He valued the vision of the nation’s forefathers as expressed in the Constitution. He could tell you why if you asked, and he could explain what he thought comfortably, plainly, with a touch of humor here and there.
He didn’t argue. He just listened carefully to you, so he could understand how things looked from your point of view.
He’d respectfully ask you questions about your thoughts and show you where they differed from how he saw things and why. That was his mode of operation. An open conversation so you could each understand the other, for real, not from some preconceived assumptions.
Of course, with the world being as it – so many cats with their claws out and all this scrappin’ going on – some folks didn’t like Charlie’s point of view at all. It totally disagreed with their own views. To them, his views were toxic and divisive. They decided it was “a threat to our democracy” to let him continue to influence all these young minds. He had to be silenced.
But he wouldn’t be silenced. Regardless of what threats and pressures were brought to bear, he kept speaking. He was growing more and more widely known. Word of his thoughts, of his courage and perseverance were spreading everywhere.
Then he was shot. With a bullet built to kill a grizzly, right there in front of his wife, his three-year-old daughter, his 16-month-old son. Right there in front of the whole world
It was this generation’s JFK moment. A man who inspired them had been fatally shot. This man who gave them a sense of clarity in the midst of a world of danger and confusion, who brought them ideals to strive for in what had seemed to them a meaningless world, this man was dead.
On Friday, his wife, whose courage matches Charlie’s own, made a statement saying to those who tried to silence him, “You have no idea what you’ve unleashed.”
Judging from comments pouring in from across the globe, I think she’s right. People will no longer remain silent about what they believe to be wrong, about what they believe to be right.
Charlie’s voice will not be silenced, his example will not be dimmed. He will speak through all who will openly express their own understanding about what they see as beautiful, good, and true. Even if their views are controversial or differ from their neighbor’s. Maybe especially then. We owe it to ourselves, and to each other, to claim our unalienable right to do so freely.
Personally, I plan to follow Charlie’s lead. I, too, believe that the only way to peace between us all is through free and respectful conversation.
Free speech is the hill on which I will forever stand. If we cannot speak freely, we are not free.
So yes, I’ll join in the swelling chorus: I am Charlie Kirk now. I am Charlie Kirk.
Warmly,
Susan
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay