This Is Not How Things Are Supposed to Be

Charlie Kirk was murdered today in cold blood in front of a crowd. Killed, while doing what he believed was right and standing for what he thought mattered. This cannot be an incident where only some voices express grief or outrage. It requires all of us to confront the reality of what has happened. Though our politics could not have been more different, to even mention politics in this moment is to cheapen the truth of what has happened. A wife has lost her husband. Two children have lost their father. Parents have lost their son. Friends have lost someone they loved. At its most basic and most devastating level this is about the loss of a human life, something we as a society have grown dangerously numb to.

What we are witnessing now is not only the tragedy of one family or one community. It is a symptom of a democracy that is unraveling before our eyes. Violence is replacing dialogue. Fear is taking the place of decency. With painful honesty I can say I am deeply shaken and profoundly afraid of where we are heading and have been for some time.

The state of our country is not okay. We cannot pretend that this is normal or acceptable or simply the way things go. It is not. These are not ordinary times. They are dark times. And if we are to preserve what is good and decent in public life, we must begin by acknowledging the truth. This is not how things are supposed to be.

This writing needs to be nothing more than that. I will not venture into right versus left. I will not turn this into a debate on guns or the politics of extremist violence. What must be said is simple. Violence is never the answer. The cruelty of tragedy is that it forces a mirror in front of every one of us and demands we ask what are you doing, what are you not doing, and what are you going to do. No person deserves to die at the hands of another.

Senseless violence happens every day in the name of politics, religion, class, or difference of any kind. I acknowledge that and I condemn it all. But this moment carries the weight of something that could break our already fragile democracy and push it into an even deeper spiral. That is why I feel compelled to speak.

To everyone reading this, know this. There are still people who believe in decency. There are still people who believe that humanity holds more goodness than hate. And there are still people who will never allow violence, no matter how senseless, to be weaponized into division.

We stand at a crossroads. Tragedy can drive us further apart or it can bring us back to what is true, what is just, and what is deeply human. I will not choose division. I will choose decency. And my greatest hope is that many others will find the courage to do the same.