Before two weeks ago if you had asked me, “Who is Charlie Kirk?” I would have looked puzzled, shrugged, and cautiously ventured, “James T. Kirk’s little brother?”
Since then, I have lived the tragic events in his and his family’s lives, as has the whole world.
He was 31 years old, married to a woman named Erika, and they had two children, a girl and a boy, who he kept off social media and did not at first even reveal their names. Privacy is important. Now I can see why.
I learned that he was an influencer, as the young people say.
That he had an organization called, “Turning Point, USA.”
That he would hold events on college campuses titled, “Prove me Wrong.”
That he would talk about his views and invite students who disagreed with him to come up to the front of the auditorium, take the mic, and debate him.
That he would never raise his voice, get angry or insulting, or call anybody names.
That he was always polite and respectful.
And kind.
That he was a conservative Republican, a supporter of Trump and Israel, and a Christian.
That a lot of young people had been touched by him.
And that he was loathed by the left.
Loathed? Is that what we feel toward people we disagree with?
Apparently, yes. Yes it is.
He felt strongly about his conservative views and his Christianity, something that is getting harder to do publicly without earning an Orange “D” for Deplorable sewn to your face.
But he would earnestly talk to many people and was changing some of his views, particularly on Israel, of which he had been an ardent supporter until lately. He was starting to doubt Israel’s high ground in the genocide of Gaza.
Many of the things he was accused of saying and believing weren’t true.
They were easily refuted by listening to his actual words in the actual context in which they were actually said.
If you wish to know what someone thinks, talk to him and listen to what he says, not to someone who hates his guts. ASK him what he thinks, don’t TELL him.
But some people don’t like truths that tell them what they don’t want to hear. Lies are better.
Much.
Much.
Better.
Millions of his supporters were listening. Learning. Changing.
And more importantly, they were seeing the proper way a decent person expresses himself and engages in respectful dialog with others.
He was a living refutation and rejection of the current debating standard of,
Every word a vandal.
Every retort an insult.
Every reply a snub.
Every opponent an enemy.
It was refreshing.
He was willing to debate, respect, consider, and reflect. And change, if he thought his views were out of step.
How many of us are willing to do that?
He was assassinated by a sniper on September 10, 2025, while addressing a crowd at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
The suspect of the murder, Tyler James Robinson, is a 22 year old who grew up in a conservative family, but who had turned his back on it and switched to a radical left-wing ideology. Bullets found with his rifle were inscribed with Antifa slogans and rhetoric.
I can see why Charlie wanted privacy for his children.
Since his brutal murder, there has been much controversy about his killing and the way it is being handled. Today, with the Internet and the cloud of cell phones we live in, there are now scores of Zapruder-like films flying around and being examined.
I wonder if there is a grassy knoll in Utah Valley U?
Most people don’t trust the government to run the investigation. Along with the usual conspiracy theories, there are healthy and honest questions. Along with much suspicion. Much mistrust and skepticism.
And disbelief.
The reaction around the world was swift and dismal. Dismayed, even. The American left displayed a shocking lack of pity or respect for the family or grief for the death of Charlie Kirk. Many were outright and appallingly disrespectful. Insulting. Barbaric, even.
Beneath all decency.
I saw disgusting videos of people singing and mocking and gleefully displaying their comical disdain for the tragedy. Some even wishing tragedy on his wife and children.
People were positively revolting.
Evil is easy. Good takes work.
Agree with him. Disagree with him. Fine. Don’t be violent or encourage others to be.
You can disagree with someone without treating them as the Woke version of the Antichrist.
The left, as it existed in the 1960’s, had withered, atrophied, and disappeared by the 80’s. Baby Boomers and activists had grown up, put down the hash pipes, got jobs, and were raising families. Jerry Rubin was a Wall Street stockbroker.
The good things-great things, really-that were accomplished during President Johnson’s Great Society became just a part of our society. Taken for granted. Expected.
Some of them worked well. Some didn’t. Some people took advantage of them and made better lives for themselves. Some didn’t.
You can lead a horse to water…
As I entered the working world, I saw blacks and whites, men and women, in jobs right alongside of me. I had bosses who were women, including directors and company presidents.
One of them was gay.
She was my manager at the University of Connecticut for a time, and she lived with the director of the Server Support group.
The fact that she was a woman, gay, and in a position of authority didn’t matter. Nobody cared. Just do your fucking job.
And she was an asshole.
I don’t say that because she was a woman. Or because she was gay. Or because I resented working for a woman because of how insecure and misogynist I am and how I wanted her bundled up, clothed in an Amish bonnet and dress, and deposited barefoot into the kitchen.
Please don’t paint me with any of your toxic feminist brushes dripping with contempt.
She was a mediocre manager, but I had had those before, it was just an old saw. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. But as a person? She was an asshole.
There were other women I worked alongside of who I loved working for or with or as a support person for their departments. I had women working for me when I was a team leader. They were great. We all worked together well.
Once I walked into my office after all morning meetings, yellow pad full of contradicting orders in hand, by the desk of one woman while on the way to mine, and said, “Nancy!” wanting to talk to her. No bullying or intimidation. I just needed to get her attention.
“Yes, Sir!” she said.
I stopped, feigned confusion, and said, “Wait…! Woah! Was that…? Respect? Is THAT what that feels like!?”
Nobody had any feminist chips on their shoulders. Many women today have more chips on their’s than Frito Lay.
But at least, things were settling into a groove.
Today I’m hearing rumblings like,
“Blacks need recompense for slavery and Jim Crow laws!”
To which I say, “Huh? We did that already. Sixty years ago,”
…and “Me, too. Fuck you!” to every imagined offense.
“What, exactly is that supposed to mean? We enacted laws against that kind of stuff,”
…and “White privilege!”
“And you’re not demanding your own privileges and special treatment?”
…and “White men took everything and left us with nothing!”
“I worked all my life. You want something? Work for it! Don’t blame everybody else for your failures. And you know that ‘White men’ just want to get along, right?”
And the incessant disdain for Baby Boomers. I think they just want everybody to hate everybody else, that’s all.
Like they do.
It was getting surreal.
No matter what we give them it’s never enough.
I think the Woke today don’t want people to improve.
If they ever got everything they want, then they would have nothing to whine about…
Then they’d have to let go…
And get along…
With everybody else…
And shut up.
“If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem,” it’s said.
Pendulums swing.
The good things of the past were being swallowed up in a tide of temper tantrums.
The liberalism, the one that I grew up with and which accomplished many things, both good and bad, died on the vine. It was replaced.
First with, ‘Politically Correct.’
Then, ‘Social Justice Workers.’
Then something called, ‘Woke.’
Each one being more selfish, more hypocritical, and more demanding than the last. With a hint of Socialism and Marxism hanging about.
Each one being more selfish, more hypocritical, and more demanding than the last. With a hint of Socialism and Marxism hanging about.
Meet the new fascist, same as the old fascist.
Get over yourself. The world doesn’t revolve around you.
Recently there has been a reaction to the excesses of the Woke movement. People like Charlie Kirk spoke out for traditional values.
Young people today are finding a need for traditional lives, families, and governments.Traditional meaning.
There’s a whole, ‘Trad wife/husband’ movement on TikTok. They just want an orderly life with solid values, respect, and a joy in living.
And some people find that idea abhorrent.
But that’s OK, right? Her body. Her choice? A woman should be able to live her life the way she wants to, right? Trust and believe all women?
Or is it: Her body, your choice? You get to tell her what is best for her? What she is allowed to do, think, or say? She must live under Woke Sharia law?
Maybe a real dialog will resume. Maybe people will start to think for themselves.
Then September 10, 2025, came along. 200,000 people came to Charlie Kirk’s memorial. Millions, maybe as many as 100,000,000, streamed it.
Many countries around the world watched. Places where their cultures are more conservative. In Russia, people are regaining interest in the Russian Orthodox Church. I saw that the few times I was there.
Hundreds of new churches and monasteries are being built. Classic old ones renovated. A church in Moscow that had been torn down by Stalin and its basement turned into a swimming hole, was completely rebuilt from old pictures.
It is beautiful.
Russians are more conservative and traditional, anyway. They are getting back to their roots. Their traditional roots.
I asked our guide in Moscow, Mila, “Are more young people becoming religious now? And if so, why is that?”
“Yes, some. They are curious,” she said. “Some are doing it for their grandmothers who had to hide their faith during Soviet times.”
Hmm, the rulers telling you how to think? Free thought is against the State? A fascist regime punishing thought crime? Extinguishing your very heart and crushing your soul?
Where are we hearing that now?
You wouldn’t like anybody telling you what to think, now, would you?
Woke is losing its life force.
Erika Kirk gave an impassioned speech at the memorial. She spoke about the boy arrested for Charlie’s murder. Tyler.
“On the cross, our savior said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they (know not) what they do.’” she said.
After another pause, she continued,
“That man, that young man…, I forgive him.”
A grieving mother...A modern, intelligent woman…
With two young children…
Forgave the man who slaughtered her husband…
And robbed them all of their provider…
In the name of love.
"I forgive him."
With these three words, Woke died.
I conceived this essay while working in my shop this afternoon. When I was done, I came out to my driveway to go get dinner.
Looking up, I saw this:
Charlie is looking down upon us.
And he's smiling.
