The Awakening: Charlie Kirk’s Death and Loving One Another
It was September 10, 2025, in the early afternoon. I opened Instagram and saw a photo that I couldn’t quite make out. It was a photo of a man leaning over, and underneath the photo were some words that made me stop everything I was doing. Charlie Kirk has been shot? My brain couldn’t register what had happened. Of course, I immediately opened Instagram and did what I probably shouldn’t have done but did anyway. I searched for something to tell me that he would be ok. What I found was a slew of videos showing Charlie being shot in the neck and falling over on the ground. I texted my partner, who had met him through political circles many years ago. “He’s not going to make it,” I wrote. I knew, in my spirit, that Charlie had passed. Immediately, I prayed for him and asked God for a miracle. I believed that this would happen.
It didn’t. What has followed in the days after has been both an incredible mourning around the world and more anger. More division. More pain. Charlie stood for faith, family, and the freedom to express thoughts openly, without violence. That is a right we all have in the United States of America, and that is one that I am very thankful to have. Without these rights, we couldn’t have advocacy and legislation. If you take away our ability to express our opinions, then we are living in a society I no longer want to be a part of.
I understand that people are angry, that they are indifferent and they just may even think this is all silly. I understand that because I am human and I am sure that at some point or another I have thought that other people’s ideas and opinions were unimportant and irrelevant. I have also disliked other people and felt immense anger in my life. If you read my memoir, you will know that I was sexually and physically abused by my parents. I also got into a lot of things in my life that took me down a very dark path because of the trauma that had occurred in my childhood. Have I ever felt anger towards my caretakers? Absolutely, I have. Anger is a disease and it poisons the spirit. God had to deal with me about the anger that I had against people who had hurt me in my childhood and at many different times in my life. I forgave my parents and it set me free. It also allowed me to open up my heart to love. Love is more powerful than anything in this world. Love is the greatest weapon we have against The Enemy. When we love others who do harm towards us, we come up higher and we give the other person the greatest gift of all.
I write this to note that I am seeing an enormous spiritual shift happening at this moment. I hope and pray that this continues. But I also see the division, the limited thinking, and the hurt in the world. To this, I want to comment. Your pain is valid, your ideas are valid. We are all humans beings in the world doing the best we can with what we have. If someone thinks differently than someone else, they have that right. Our differences make us better and they make the world a better place to live in. How boring would the world be if the world all looked the same! What about if we all weighed the same and had the same hairstyle, the same skin color and preferences in life. That’s just not how the world is supposed to be because if it was, then God would have made it that way. What we are supposed to do is respect one another’s ideas and opinions. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with many things that many people say and think. But we can agree to disagree. It’s a choice we make to extend love and compassion to another person even when we feel anger, disappointment, and frustration. The world is in need of healing, and I think that as with many events that are going on right now, last week was an awakening to the soul. How are you going to live your life moving forward? How are you going to live your life with love and compassion? How are you going to be an advocate in your community and promote the freedom of speech with non-violence?