A More Perfect Union

I write to myself more than any other audience. The "you" here is me, too; and the "I" speaks as the me I'm aspiring to be. But I hope you [the reader] can put yourself in my shoes in both the "you" and "I".

It's not patriotism or radicalization. Not conservatism or liberalism. Not fascism or democracy. Not the 1st Amendment or the 2nd Amendment. None of these explain, dismiss, or resolve the anger many of us are feeling in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination. These are all smoke screens rising out of the fires of anger and rage that ignite in all of us when we all too often veer headlong into the unmistakeable gut-punch feeling that this world really hurts, and I feel to my bones that it's not supposed to be this way. Not that we shouldn't be trying to build and live in a "more perfect union" founded on laws and decency and compromise, but that I think the levels of rage show that we've lost the larger plot.

Humanity. Compassion. The image-of-the-Creator that is in you and in me and in Charlie Kirk and in the politicians you despise and in the politicians you're cheering on. Humanity is that core essence that--when it becomes twisted in each of our hearts, and when that caustic venom overflows to cause one to trample on the humanity of another--then becomes the fuel for the fires of anger and rage. It hurts. It really shouldn't be like this.

Charlie Kirk shouldn't be dead like this. His wife shouldn't have to mourn like this. His kids shouldn't have to grow up without their dad. Those spectators shouldn't have to relive the trauma of that moment in their nightmares. That hurts. If you don't feel that in your gut, take a deep breath, and try to earnestly feel it as you sigh out deeply.

The accused shooter should never have fallen into the depths of worst tragedy that can befall a person: to become violent and murderous. He should never have to endure the merciless fury he's received and will receive through the criminal justice process. That's heartbreaking. If you can't see that, close your eyes and imagine looking out through his eyes as he likely will in a jail cell or in court, or even potentially on death row.

The immigrant, Black, transgender, queer, homeless, victim of misogyny, survivor of a school shooting, and so many more, should never have had to endure their years or decades long torment in our communities. The dehumanizing treatment that at times Charlie Kirk and some of his followers have exacerbated through the rhetoric, policies, and leaders they prop up out of blind religious zealotry or an addiction to power and acclaim. That is stomach-churning. If you can't comprehend living in daily terror, with the weight of you don't deserve to be protected or even exist in our community, then recall one of your worst chest-tightening moments of fear or anxiety and try to imagine life being that every day. The judgment of these groups and systemic issues can't be dismissed as merely personal choice or morality or legality or merit. It's not inconceivable that any of us could find ourselves on the receiving end of that hatred had our cards been dealt differently.

Charlie Kirk and the wake of friends and enemies he left behind are but one grievous example of the kind of society we live in today. We're 9 months into 2025 and there have been active attempts on the lives of 3 different Democrat political figures (leading to the death of one, Melissa Hortman, as well as her husband), and now this one very public killing of a Republican political figure. Why are we so callous to this hatred?

These all are our neighbors.

These all are images of God.

These all deserve compassion and empathy.

Even your enemy is still human.

If we can't peer through the video screen, clear away the smoke and flames in front of our eyes, forgive--but not ignore or rationalize--this brokenness, and truly see the human in each of these, then we still have much work to do.

I suspect part of your and my blindness to the humanity of the other is not only our ingrained tribalism (us vs. them) but also our American hyper-individualism. While individualism spurred a rich culture of "liberty and the pursuit of happiness," it also narrows our focus even more than our subconscious tribalism. It leads the religious and nonreligious alike on a path toward forgetting the life and humanity of anyone but themselves, even when acting in the façade of "liberty and justice for all." A book I'm currently reading, Practice Resurrection by pastor Eugene Peterson, gives a view of this blind spot of individualism that I think fits the current moment and topic:

Individualism is self-ism with a swagger. The individualist is the person who is convinced that he or she can serve God without dealing with God. This is the person who is sure that he or she can love neighbors without knowing their names. This is the person who assumes that "getting ahead" involves leaving other people behind. This is the person who, having gained competence in knowing God or people or world, uses that knowledge to take charge of God or people or world.

I don't challenge that Kirk earnestly believed he was being compassionate and charitable in most of his actions and convictions. The best of us think of ourselves as honest and caring people. But it's nearly impossible to navigate the "thorny brambles of individualism," as Peterson describes it, without twisting political conviction into condemnation or individual competence into holier than thou coercion, using one's knowledge and platform to "take charge" in arrogance, and encouraging those like-minded to do the same. Instead of listening with empathy and serving with humility. This is my error, too. Life is clearly too short and fragile for us to keep making that mistake.

In grace and compassion, push your fellow humans to reject dehumanizing thoughts, speech, policies, and actions. Let not yourself, not your family, not your neighbor, not your pastor or mentor forget this shared humanity. Let not Charlie Kirk, not Shaun King, not Trump, not AOC, not Vance, not Schiff, not [fill-in-the-blank your most adored or most despised political figures] use this moment to strip anyone of their humanity. We will be less for it as humans if you let the rage and heated rhetoric flow unguarded to your heart and mind.

That humanity, that compassion, is the love-of-God and love-of-neighbor that makes up the center of the Christ that Charlie Kirk claimed to follow (whether or not his words and actions always aligned). This is the same "love your enemy" and "pray for those who persecute you" Christ.

If you would proclaim the same Christ: be not so quick to defend or condemn Charlie Kirk. He is neither idol to be worshipped nor enemy to be hated. Charlie had enemies. Love them. Charlie also enabled the persecution of many in our community. Pray for him and them.

Or if you're disgusted by the damage wrought in our world by so-called Christians and want nothing to do with them: you're right to be sickened. That damage is real and it reeks. And it is nothing like Christ. I'm so sorry.

From both angles, we look to the "more perfect union" as the pattern to strive for. The how it should be that our hearts (and inner rage) sense all too well. And what a mess we've made of it. The good news for both perspectives is that there actually is a Perfect who is not just words on a page but a real person who intimately knows exactly how messed up we all are and still chose to forgive it all. Really all of it: selfishness and hypocrisy and hatred and murder. It seems absurd to forgive evil yet not just stop it outright. Yet if evil were cut off, where do you draw the line? I'd be gone, too. Or if the Giver of Life stopped [for]giving, evil would fully take hold and I'd also no longer be here...

So then, for humanity to continue and progress, he promised to give us the tools, if we accept them, to repair our own hearts from the inside out to work towards being like that Perfect, for the sake of our family, friends, neighbors, communities, and world. Without that Spirit of love and humility, the other exceptional but man-made tools in our toolkit--laws and politics and activism and debates and protests--will continue to fall apart. We have to rebuild, starting in the heart.

I certainly need that Spirit more every day.