I have seen people close to Charlie Kirk grieving; people who have falsely been accused of somehow betraying him surrounding his death.
People grieve in many different ways, especially when it is complicated grief and/or Biblical grief.
Grief has been a major part of my life since September 11, 2001, when working on the search and rescue at the World Trade Center. I participated in two exchange programs of 9/11 family members/survivors/rescue workers with Oklahoma City family members and survivors, where we listened to a loud sound recording of the Oklahoma City bombing together in a small, dark theatre. Later, I attended mortuary affairs school in the Army, after having participated in a mortuary affairs recovery operation in Iraq and later serving on over 500 funerals for the military.
A large part of my life revolves around helping people who are grieving and I have assisted loved ones in dealing deaths that were suspicious, tragic and those that were ordinary. I am not one to tell people how they should grieve. People grieve in many different ways.
There is grief as we normally know it. Then there is grief when our loved one is killed in a public way. Then it is even more complicated when that loved one who was murdered publicly was themselves a public figure. And then it is even more complicated when those who have to carry on from the public murder of their extremely famous loved one are themselves famous. And then there is the grief of people who are very much sold out to the love and will of God, through Jesus.
One widow I met after September 11 said that the moment one of the towers collapsed, she knew her duty was to raise her children after seeing her husband murdered. If people think that was cold, she remained active in her kids life and she never remarried. No one could replace her husband.
Another widow has spent nearly 25 years involved in finding out the why of what happened that day.
In 2017, my wife, teenage son, and I buried my son’s twin sister, and later had to deal with her grave being desecrated. Each of us dealt with it differently, but the thought that kept me grounded was that God, having lost his only child in Jesus Christ (for us who rejected him), knew exactly how we felt. (Townhall was kind enough to let me write about this tough time and never will I forget the kindness of the staffers).
One of the great honors of my life was attending the Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony for Charlie Kirk, someone I loved, though I last saw him in 2019. Most everyone else who was at the ceremony knew him much more than I did.
That being said, after the ceremony, there was a reception. While there was laughter, political talk, and small talk, there was also very real grief shown by people who were there. These were people who have been falsely smeared, whom I saw crying, expressing concern of desecration of Charlie’s gravesite as happened to Abraham Lincoln, and those who said with sadness that such a ceremony would be one of the last goodbyes as there was so much work to be done.
Those I know at the FBI and DOJ have all said the Director and other top leadership are personally invested in tracking down every credible lead in Charlie’s assassination.
TPUSA’s employees are real people. They have a job to do in addition to mourning the loss of their boss who was also their friend, while being accused of being somehow involved in his murder.
I am not telling people to stop asking questions. Charlie was about free speech. But I am asking that those asking questions would not disparage the character of people at TPUSA as somehow acting suspiciously regarding Charlie’s assassination. Charlie would never have done that. The TPUSA family has been through enough and has much work to do…yes, for the Kingdom of God.
Speaking of God and conspiracies, please keep in mind that people can barely keep a secret in church. Conspiracies are notoriously hard to put together and even harder to cover up. People get weak or greedy…or prideful. Conspiracies are actually easier to believe in some ways, as it makes psychological sense in giving death supposedly a greater meaning. However, the people closest to Charlie Kirk already know the greatest meaning of Charlie’s death: that he was ready for Heaven and that while we still miss him, there is a great Christian revival happening for people who are not caught up in this conspiracy nonsense.
This revival is what Erika Kirk and the people at TPUSA are being obedient in trying to properly steward. We should support them with our prayers as opposed to giving them greater pain.
*Views expressed in this article are those of the author and not any government agency.