Thank You, Charlie Kirk

One year ago, the most significant political assassination of my lifetime took place. Tyler Robinson, a disturbed young man whose life had become bound up with radical gender ideology, killed Charlie Kirk on camera, in front of a crowd that included children, in one of the most obscene acts of evil imaginable. A year later, the country is still reeling from the shock of Charlie’s death. He left his children fatherless, his wife a widow, and his political organization without its founder. Millions of people whose lives Charlie touched now feel the weight of his absence.

Yet in the aftermath of his death, there is still light. Charlie’s legacy lives on. On this anniversary, it is right to reflect on what that legacy actually is.

Charlie was a disciple of Jesus Christ. He was constantly looking for opportunities to share the Gospel. He did not separate his political message from his religious one. Some people treat that as a character flaw. I see it as evidence that his faith was so central that it shaped everything he said and did. His politics grew out of his beliefs.

Charlie was a loving husband. After his death, his wife, Erika, shared details of their marriage that revealed a private man many of us never fully saw. According to Erika, Charlie was a kind and patient husband who frequently wrote her love notes. She felt cherished by him, and she loved him the same way.

Charlie was a peacemaker. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of recorded debates between Charlie and college students from across the country. One would be hard-pressed to find an example of Charlie losing his temper or treating a student with contempt, even when those students treated him poorly because they disagreed with him.

Charlie was an advocate for life. He was not ashamed of his beliefs on abortion. He defended the right to life of the unborn with conviction, and he spoke with genuine kindness to women facing unplanned or unwanted pregnancies and to those who had been victims of rape. Few people in the pro-life movement were as effective an advocate as he was.

Some have said Charlie would have been president one day. I believe that. This fallen world, it seems, was not good enough to keep him. His Father in Heaven called him home. Charlie’s time on earth is over, but he will not be forgotten. His memory will stand as an example for a generation of people—myself included.

Thank you, Charlie.