Grieving for America
By: Jack Wyman
He was described as a “conservative activist.”
While accurate, it’s hardly complete. It’s a moniker that sells him way too short. He was much more than that.
Charlie Kirk, the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, was the bold and visionary national leader of a powerful political movement. Brash and plain-spoken, thoughtful and reflective, brilliantly strategic and witty, Kirk was a force of political nature. He helped to shape, not only America’s current political landscape but its culture.
The energetic firebrand inspired, mobilized, led, and spoke for millions of young conservatives across the country. To many who were turned off by politics and apathetic about getting involved, Kirk gave them reason to hope and work for a better future. He told them change was possible. So was the restoration of the values and virtues that had built America. He sounded a trumpet and aroused disenchanted youth to stop complaining and get moving.
We tend to believe idealism is only for liberals. Conservatives are often dismissed as stodgy, reactionary, practical, negative, narrow-minded, and unexciting. Many are old. Charlie Kirk broke that conventional mold. In a very significant way. He was the young, charismatic leader of a conservative idealism.
He loved his country, wasn’t afraid to speak out on things that matter, and invited those who disagreed with him to challenge him—with their own words and ideas. Kirk thought public debate was a good and healthy thing—a necessary thing. He welcomed those who had the same strength of convictions he had. Even if those convictions were the polar opposite of his own. He possessed a noble intellectual courage.
Democrats often wished they had a Charlie Kirk on their side.
Kirk told young people what he believed. He told them what he was for, not just what he was against. He was unafraid to make his case. He made it convincingly. He spoke and the young marched. He traveled to college campuses and invited the audience to ask questions and to disagree with his point of view.
“Let Truth and Falsehood grapple,” wrote John Milton in his treatise on freedom of the press. “Who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?” Charlie Kirk banked on that. It was his mission.
It’s important to remember too that Charlie Kirk was a devoted Christian motivated by his faith in Jesus Christ. He was as unabashed in that faith as he was in his politics.
Though many disagreed with—perhaps even hated—his take on politics, religion, and morality, Kirk did his part to make the United States a better nation. He helped to lead the public debate on the kind of country we are and want to become.
We are all richer for his clear and convicted voice. We are healthier and stronger because of the young people he motivated and led into politics. Regardless of their party or persuasion. This is his greatest and lasting achievement. His gift to American politics. That ideas matter, change is possible, and we can all make a difference.
Charlie Kirk was doing what he loved yesterday at Utah Valley University—speaking with young people at a rally—when he was shot and killed by an assassin. He leaves a wife, two young children, and a bright but unfulfilled future. He was 31 years old. As Senator Edward Kennedy said of his brother Bobby in his 1968 eulogy, Charlie Kirk “need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life.”
It may be tempting for some to do that. It’s the last thing Kirk would want, nor the legacy he hoped to someday leave. He’ll always be a hero to many, but he would be amused to ever be considered a saint. He was flawed, as we all are. He left us while still growing.
He was a young man of courage, conviction, and commitment. He leaves us much to admire and emulate. He engaged in politics—and wanted others to engage—because he thought America is worth preserving. His death is more than a loss for Republicans and conservatism. It is a loss to America.
Once again, the nation is united in grief. This untimely death of a gifted political leader is a sad reminder that our condemnation of political violence seems to be one of the few things that brings us together across our political divide. A grim and disturbing reality we seem unable to prevent.
For now, we all mourn this senseless and tragic killing. Let us pray that in our grief we may as a country rededicate ourselves to those American ideals that make us great. Let us seek and find the common ground beyond our grief that will help us to lead the nation we love.
To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.
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