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The revolting horror of the last year was brought to us a legion of monsters who did lasting evil to everything Charlie Kirk stood for and much that he loved, to say nothing of to those who loved him. So much that is (not should be, but is) sacred was wantonly defiled, not just by Charlie's enemies, for whom he always prayed, but by people we all thought to be his friends, who he also trusted.
Monsters. They are monsters. Homo religiosus at its most perverse and inverted.
So, a year ago, I said we faced the question of catharsis or civilization and urged us to choose civilization. Now I see we face that baser but, I hope, easier question of whether we're men or monsters.
So, who, or what, are we, men?
I argued then, and stand by to this day, that Charlie always was a man of civilization and not only would have chosen it but would have urged and wanted us all to choose it (even though I know he would have been really pissed off about what happened too). He made the right sacrifices and from that authority asked us to make them too, quite rightly.
I argue today with the same conviction that Charlie Kirk would be standing at the front of the charge today to cast out monsters from our midst. He would call each and every life he touched to be a Man and to repudiate the Monsters. Maybe, in that sense, he was exactly what they've acted like he was ever since, like cowards in his absence: an obstacle they needed out of their way.
Charlie Kirk was not perfect. He was a man. He was, in fact, as we too often forget, a young man. He got emotional. He made mistakes. He succeeded often but also sometimes failed. But he was an enemy to all Monsters, or, once having recognized them, would have been, and among their fiercest and worst.
He was Homo religiosus, the sworn enemy of the anti-sacred and rightful defender of truth, justice, goodness, and peace.
He's not here anymore, though, and, painful as it is, it's been long enough for us to realize that reality. He cannot be our champion against the monsters of this world any longer. That is for us to do, and we must do it; but to do so, we must be men, not monsters, too. To do that, we must do what he did throughout his heroic life. We must choose to be Men, not Monsters.
We cannot lose hope. The thing is, we should not lose hope either. As men, as Homo religiosus, we understand something not just about the sacred but about the Light, something monsters simply do not.
Darkness cannot consume light.
Light drives out darkness. Darkness, or that which produces it, can only occlude and obscure; it cannot consume or destroy light. It isn't in its nature. It doesn't have the capacity. It isn't what it is, or, more accurately, what it isn't.
Darkness prevails where light isn't, so men must do what monsters will not: carry light into the shadows, as well as the darker places, and make them shine.
It is men bearing Light that set things apart, holy and sacred. This activity is constitutive of what makes us human. Salt and light purify. That which is purified can be set apart and honored for what it represents. Perhaps it is above man's station to truly sanctify, but by being salt and light, we can preserve and protect that which deserves it and honor it for what we recognize it to mean.
I have said many times in the last year that Charlie Kirk was, above more than anything, salt and light in this world, imperfect as anyone is. That is, he was a man, not a monster, and was so by active choice and deliberate decision day after day. He honored what was holy to the best of his ability, and he fought against those who would dishonor it at every turn.
As we begin this second year without him, may we make the same right choice. May we choose to be men, fallible but never monsters, and choose it again against all temptations day after day after day.