On September 10, 2025 I woke up to the news that Charlie Kirk was dead. I was in a state of disbelief. I was in shock! Like, this had to be one of those falsely claimed RIP reports. Is this for real? I still can’t believe this to be true. On a human level, regardless of politics, beliefs etc. I know what it is like to grow up without a mom. At 2 year old I was asking where my mom was. I began to weep uncontrollably when I heard Erika Kirk share of her 3 year old daughter asking “Where’s daddy?”

“It is part of our human nature to want to be liked. It is part of our human nature to worry about what others think of us. It is an attribute of greatness and of American exceptionalism to not surrender to our nature, but to be guided by an inner calling to persevere and to prevail, no matter the personal cost

~ Charlie Kirk (1993 – 2025)

If you were to have asked me about my personal views and opinions of Charlie Kirk a year ago I would have told you that I hated the man. I thought he was prideful, arrogant, homophobic, racist, and an a-hole. I didn’t ascribe myself to his particular brand of politics. The irony is, I never gave him a chance. I didn’t actually hear him out on what he had to say. This past year however, my perspective began to change.

There are three different types of people in the world. There are those who have an understanding of things albeit, not perfectly, who does? Then there are those who strive to understand and seek out knowledge. The third type of person are those who are willfully ignorant. Charlie Kirk was by far willfully ignorant. Anyone who gave him the time and space would know this to be true. He wasn’t wishy washy. He was very direct. He was the furthest thing from being politically correct and diplomatic and that character trait made him controversial to many. It didn’t help that he matched the energy coming at him. We have reached the point in society where differences of beliefs equate hate. Society might always see hate when there is disagreement. Having a disagreement to moral beliefs does not equate hate. Having a different political view does not equate hate. Having a different religious belief does not equate hate. When there is a refusal to engage in that difficult conversation, especially when our emotions are at the forefront, it is difficult to engage in dialogue. Even more so when our emotions are running high. I know, I’ve been there. I can’t be the only one.

I didn’t always see eye to eye on things with Charlie Kirk. Sometimes he got it wrong. Other times he got it right. That is debatable. One thing that is not debatable is that he gave people who believed differently from him an open mic. He gave those who differed from him the time to make their argument. At times, with a smile on his face, he would say “that is a very good argument”. The tragedy, is that there were a great many who never afforded him the space he gave to those who opposed him. If that were true, people would see that he was not the hateful racist homophobic white supremist the media made him out to look like, and in the end was unalived because of it.

We need a reset