Charlie Kirk


Marcus Aurelius "Meditations" would not exist if he had been assassinated for his thoughts at age thirty-one.

I would have never read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago" if he had been assassinated for his political thoughts at thirty-one years of age.

Winston Churchill would have never written "Hinge of Fate" (one of my favorite selections) had he been assassinated at thirty-one years of age.

Ernest Hemingway was fifty-three years old when "The Old Man and the Sea" was published.

Leon Uris was thirty-four years old when his novel "Exodus" was published.

The average age of the delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention was forty-two.  Benjamin Franklin was 81 years of age at this time.

The famous Persian poet Ferdowsi began writing "Shahnameh" when he was 37 years old and did not complete it until he was about seventy years of age.  This would be a tremendous loss not to have access to his thoughts.

I have viewed the close up video of the moment Charlie Kirk was shot... the tremendous fountain of blood which exploded out of his neck... the horrific movement of his arms... his head. And I had  a distinct awareness that he was physically dead before anyone made it to his side.   

Charlie Kirk is dead.  It is a great tragedy. Unfathomable.

But the greater tragedy is that one well-placed projectile could kill thought.

What could we have learned from this passionate but gentle man; this god-fearing man who loved both family and country;  this even-tempered and logical man?  What did he have to yet offer America in goodness, kindness, the example of Christian character?

At age forty... age fifty... age seventy-five?  His assassin created a vacuum: not only in the hearts of those who mourn but in the halls of those who seek to learn.

When we kill vibrant American thought we kill our culture, future hope, and  our progress celebrated over the past 250 years.

Rest in Peace,  Charlie.


swoffordwrites@gmail.com


 

Comments

  1. Always On WatchSeptember 11, 2025 at 5:34 AM

    Beautifully written. What eats away at my heart: those two beautiful children will not remember their dad. Oh, they will have plenty of reminders. But they won't personally remember their father, a truly great man and a father who loved them deeply.
    In a moment, I will link this tribute over on X.

    ReplyDelete

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