Rest In Peace, Charlie Kirk

It was only natural that my first reaction to reading about Charlie Kirk was skepticism. Just take Mark Twain’s witty statement regarding the rumours of his demise being greatly exaggerated. False claims and the like have been around forever. Yet, as more and more articles came in and repeated the same story, disbelief turned into shock. I was rattled – and I still am – for the whole day.

I buried myself in my work, distracting myself with stupid tasks in a bid to ignore the obvious truth: A stalwart man, a strong husband and a loving father, had been murdered. Murdered in front of his family, in front of hundreds of people, on cameras broadcasting across the world.

I am upset. Why should I be? He isn’t my family. He is not my son or brother or father. I didn’t know Charlie personally, though I wish I had. I wish I had even a fraction of the bravery, the tenacity and the conviction he had to put forward his values and ideals. I look at what he has accomplished in his short life, and I see a man who put everything he had into what he believed to be true and good. I wish I could do the same.

I see a father who was raising his children to the best of his ability, showing them that they, too, could achieve if only they tried, if only the applied their gifts. I see a husband who loved his wife faithfully. I see a Christian who loved God and delved deeply into the faith. I wish I could be as convicted.

Above all, though, I wish that he was still with us. It’s a rare breed of man who can take on a hostile world and succeed.
It’s only now, a couple of days later, that I am coming to accept reality. He won’t be coming back. It’s not all a joke, ha ha, just kidding. Death is so final.

But it’s not final, is it? He has left his legacy, one of encouraging open-dialog and sane discourse, one of surfacing problems and discussing them rationally. That legacy will live on without him. Evidenced by the massive outpouring of grief from across the world, it’s clear he has touched people far and wide. If there is anything ‘good’ that can come from this tragedy, it will be that more people will see him, hear him, and listen to what he had to say.

The world had lost an amazing person. He was a solid christian, a genuine free-speech advocate and a true patriot.

Go with God, Charlie Kirk.