The assassination of Charlie Kirk shook me harder than I would have thought. Until recently, I wasn’t especially familiar with Kirk. I hadn’t watched his videos or listened to his podcasts. Most of what I knew about him was from social media and newswire stories, including reports of statements of his that were deemed by some as anti-Semitic.
About a year ago, I found myself with some regularity on the road at lunch time; after hearing a Broncos report for the umpteenth time, I scanned and landed on Kirk’s show. So what I know of Charlie Kirk is a collection of 20-minute weekly or biweekly segments.
Not a whole lot; but here’s what I know about Charlie Kirk:
He was eloquent and intelligent, blunt but never mean. He grasped some of the deep challenges this country is facing (the “corporate oligarchy,” his term, not mine) better than most politicians. He was authentic and passionate.
In my limited exposure, I never heard him say anything anti-Semitic. He had positions I did not share, but what I appreciated was the thought he brought to his arguments. I’m someone who likes learning from different points of view, and you got that from Charlie.
More than anything what stood out to me about Charlie Kirk was his commitment to positively impacting the inner lives of young Americans. One could disagree with Charlie’s deeply religious approach to doing so, but what came through in the segments I heard was how much he cared about young people and wanted to see them thriving.
One may have found his traditionalist approach outdated, but he wasn’t arguing in bad faith. He believed his advice would help people to lead fulfilled lives.
Charlie looked around and, like many of us, worried about the growing mental health crisis, especially among youth; and the disaffected young people who had started wonder what kind of future America had for them.
As a person of faith, I liked that Charlie tried to turn people on to connecting with a higher power.
Again, not for everyone, but it seemed Charlie was connecting with people.
Tolerance means accepting that other people think differently, it does not mean accepting other people’s way of life. For free society to thrive, we do not need to celebrate different opinions, but we must accept that they exist.
Without tolerance, fundamentalism creeps in. That’s the opposite of what America should be.
Shana Goldberg may be reached at shana@ijn.com
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