I am not even sure where to begin. Yesterday was an awful day.
I went to Vita Nova to get a coffee and read. I ended up sitting in my car, taking a little nap, because I was exhausted from the grind. I got myself together, went inside, ordered my drink, and sat down to wait. While I was waiting, I opened X and saw the news. Charlie Kirk had been shot. At first, I wasn't sure if it was real, or if it was, I wasn't sure how severe it was, but it felt like a gut punch.
I sat there and I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled, looking for some piece of information to make things better. But the more I scrolled, the more I saw it wasn't going to get better. I started to see videos, and eventually, I just closed my phone and said a prayer.
I left, went and picked up Julia, and drove home. When I got home, I opened up X and started to scroll again. At some point, the close-up video of Charlie was making the rounds, and I saw it. After seeing it, I realized that things weren't going to end well.
I tried to put it out of my mind for a minute. I prayed again, I got out my laptop, and I did a little work, just hoping that the separation would somehow change the course of events.
I got the twins off the bus, came back home, helped them with homework, and then sat down on the couch. By that point, the reports were out. Charlie had passed. The girls could tell I was upset. I was doing my best to hide it. I always feel honesty is the best policy, and so when they asked questions, I gave them answers.
They said, What's wrong? I said, Something terrible has happened, somebody was shot. They asked me if I knew him. I said yes, but not personally. They asked me if he was assassinated. I said, Yes.
They asked me if he had a family. I said he had a wife and kids (I started to cry a little), and they'll never see their dad again. They came over and they just gave me a big hug. They held on tight.
I just sat there, frustrated, angry, and sad.
The kids went to play. I sat there filled with pain and sadness, struggling to make sense of the senselessness. I watched social media point fingers in all different directions. Which just made me sadder.
I know that... In times like these, our instinct may lead us to anger and seek revenge. But I think it's important that we resist that urge. We must embrace love, grace, and forgiveness. I know it hurts, but the best thing that we can do is pray. Pray for his wife and his children.
The individual who did this should be held accountable. We also need to look in the mirror and realize that THEY didn't do anything. WE did this. We all hold a little accountability for the current situation that we're living through.
We are all imperfect. We've all voiced our anger at times when we should have given grace. We’ve all yelled when we should have listened.
Over the last several years, there have been many episodes of political violence on both the right and the left. There was a plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer. The Capitol was stormed. Nancy Pelosi’s Husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked at his home. President Trump was shot in the ear in Butler. Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot. United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed.
And now, the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
And yet we continue to yell and scream at each other. Every time we say the other side isn’t doing enough, we are dismissing and deflecting. Every time we say it was THEM instead of WE, we are complicit, just a little, in raising the temperature of a highly polarized and toxic political culture where political violence is on the rise.
But another father is gone, and more kids will grow up with the pain and emptiness of loss. We must do better.
It's easy to look at situations like this and think that things are falling apart or unraveling, and we are powerless to stop it. But we have more power than we think. We can start by taking accountability for ourselves. Provide grace, understanding, and forgiveness. Stop pointing fingers and lend a hand. Stop yelling and listen. Stop blaming and pray.
We have power in our choices, our words, our tone, and our actions. Even though it's hard, we can set aside our differences and love one another. We can repair our political culture to be quieter, more civil, respectful, and understanding, centered on love and not hate. United for a purpose, and not divided for gain.
Like Thomas Jefferson said, “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.” We are all Americans. Let’s start acting like it.
Peace and Love,
Jeff Mayhugh