“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today. The Western world has lost its civic courage.” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Let’s face it, in our times, Charlie Kirk had not only reached our youth but effectively inspired and empowered older generations as well with the traditional message of faith and family and the moral truths upon which the entire Western Civilization rests. It’s easy to agree with the reality that assassination cannot kill the message. We can see that with the related commentary about how Plato picked up and expanded the ideas of Socrates after his execution. Along with Aristotle, we inherited the tenets of democracy from their genius and courage to share their ideas.
However, in our present climate, we face a wave of hatred and falsities relentlessly pumped out into the population of the West by the enemies of not only democracy, but most especially Christianity.
The primary target is our youth.
No one was more capable of effectively pushing back with the message of relatable truth to our nation’s college-age population than Charlie Kirk. Within this realm, he emerged as one of the greatest influencers ever.
That said, remember how Abraham Lincoln‘s plans to rebuild and reincorporate the South into the mainstream of America were thwarted by his assassination. His successor, Vice President Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat, was inclined to pardon high-ranking Confederates, plantation owners, and others, and opposed the anti-slave Republican Party’s attempts to punish the Southern gentry and do more for the freed slaves. Because of Lincoln’s death, it sadly took the South at least a hundred years to recover from the devastation and exploitation that followed the Civil War.
And what about the aftermath of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? He worked hard and successfully kept his movement strictly bound within the limits of legal, nonviolent, discourse and action. What leadership has emerged to match his strength, intelligence, and firm foundation in faith principles?
Family, Community, Country
Yes, many will pick up the mantle left behind by the beloved, gifted, and generous-spirited Charlie Kirk. We can pray for someone equally gifted at thwarting the enemies of democracy and of faith with easy, kind, and intelligent discourse. But if that person is not immediately ready to step into those shoes, I agree with the commentary that we all need to step it up.
For several decades now, American youth have been systematically co-opted away from faith and traditional moral values the minute that they step onto an American college campus as Freshmen. My own children who graduated from UCSB, the University of Iowa, and NYU, were all influenced away from faith and values to one extent or another.
Only a handful of colleges in our country offer a true liberal arts education. Instead, we pay exorbitant tuition for a politically liberal education currently and systematically offered at most of the prevailing institutions of higher learning in the U.S. Graduating students with high morals, principles, and sense of purpose is now the exception rather than the expectation.
For intellectual fluency, Charlie Kirk is compared to William Buckley, Jr. While Charlie did not earn a degree from an Ivy League college, he studied hard, and sought what was true, not what was being said. He was respected and admired by many prominent Christian leaders, from Pope Leo to regional bishops and clergy. I agree with the idea that Charlie Kirk was killed most especially for his strong family and faith values. He was successfully inspiring young men to become husbands and fathers at a young age. He lived out this ideal with a loving wife, and two beautiful children. Who will model these attributes now? We pray for effective, intelligent, faith-filled voices to emerge.
We must also be real about our own part to play in bringing back sanity, supporting our convictions, instilling faith in God, and watching over and protecting our youth from the enemies of their souls.
Literally.
We must all step it up. Charlie Kirk’s courageous message was building momentum on college campuses, drawing unprecedented crowds at each speaking engagement. It reminds us of that seminal moment when Pope John Paul II visited Cold War Poland and the people began to chant “We want God! We want God!”
Speaking of courage: In the past, I have written pieces for SBCurrent, and before that for the News-Press Editorial page, but was hesitant to sign my full name. I have used my maiden name and even a nom de plume for fear of criticism from family, friends, and colleagues. Going forward, I will take that needed step into courage and sign my articles with my real name: Linda Wade Williams.
I am aware, conscious, and listening to the voices that now cry out for a new courage in the face of the backlash against faith and values that has existed certainly as long as I have lived in Santa Barbara (50 years, this summer). Having come to UCSB in 1975 from a conservative upbringing in Orange County, I know full well the power of the counter message.
But somehow, by grace and good sense, more and more of us have returned to the “faith of our fathers,” and realize it is our responsibility to take a more deliberate stand for the traditional values that support family, community, and country.
Community Calendar:
Got a Santa Barbara event for our community calendar? Fenkner@sbcurrent.com
It is harder than ever to voice conservative views because the left has become so openly hostile. Kirk was brave and paid with his life. Many are not so brave. I wore a MAGA hat on a walk at the wharf and was greeted with profanity. My neighbor flew a Trump flag and it was burned and his property vandalized. I told my cousin that I voted for Trump and he will no longer speak to me. At the Tee Off I was telling a man at the bar why I supported RFKJr and Trump and the bartender told me to shut up about Trump. All my Democrat neighbors apparently suffer from loss of pereripharal vision, when they pass inches from me they apparently don't see me as their stare remains fixed on the distant horizon. I don't think there has ever been such hostile division. I believe it is more important than ever not to let the hostility frighten us into silence and never never never use a pseudonym. Be proud of your ideas and speak them loudly.
Linda: Thank you for putting a brave foot forward and setting an example for others to see and emulate! Heavy ships take a lot of energy to “come about”. But they do. Full speed ahead!