Just before I went to sleep last night, I saw that Charlie Kirk had been shot, and that it didn't look good. I hoped for the best, but didn't have a good feeling.
I woke up to the terrible news that he had died.
This is hitting me harder than I expected. I hadn't followed his work closely. From what I saw, he had reasonable conversations with US college students, he supported his views calmly, and tried to change minds through persuasion and reasoning. It was admirable, even though I doubt I agreed with him on every issue (probably most, though).
And someone killed him for that.
Whats hitting me hardest is that he was not only younger than me by a few months, but that he had young kids close to the age of my son. Supposedly his wife and kids were in the audience. This is just awful.
Then there are people all over social media absolutely celebrating. It's sickening. Cheering for someone's death because you disagree with them. A young father.
This feels like an inflection point. I hope the world starts to see the difference between people who admired him and people who are cheering about his death. There is a good side and a bad side here.
RIP Charlie Kirk.