Loading summary
Transcript19 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Welcome to the Kristin Hawkins Show. Today, as you might have guessed it, I'm going to be talking about my friend Charlie Kirk. You know, I actually met Charlie a long time ago right after Turning Point USA had been founded, started taking off and started forming campus chapters. And I remember when I met with Charlie, it was somewhere like, I want to say a Jimmy John's or a potbelly, somewhere like that right outside the Chicago o' Hare Airport. Because I had come into Chicago for some reason and Charlie was still there. That's where the national headquarters of Turning Point was. And I wanted to meet with him because to see how we can synchronize, how we could work together. And Charlie was pro life, but not a pro life activist at that point. I would say he didn't earn those stripes yet. And of course I'm pretty hard on people, but I remember encouraging Charlie to like, let's do more pro life things together. But it was, it was kind of clear that wasn't Charlie's focus. Charlie was focused on, you know, American sovereignty, talking about capitalism, defending capitalism. At that time, we're just trying to.
- [01:30]
B
Reinstitute the founding principles, free market, fiscal responsibility.
- [01:34]
A
But over the years, something changed in Charlie's life. And I think it was very noticeable to those of us who are watching Charlie in his interviews, seeing him in his speeches and events, that something changed in Charlie's life.
- [01:49]
B
So what is it about, let's say a six week baby that has a heartbeat, its own DNA, fingerprint brainwaves, that is less moral worth than an 88 year old right now with dementia in.
- [01:59]
A
A home down the street to the point of now? His largest videos that you see all over the Internet, it's such, I get such joy out of it are the pro Life videos. Are the videos the craziest, you know, comments he would get on campus and then his best rebuttals would be those pro life rebuttals.
- [02:20]
B
It starts at conception and that's when you were formed. That's when you came into this world and you were worthy of protection.
- [02:27]
A
It's been. And it was really a joy to see Charlie learn more about the movement and really grow not only in his pro life activism commitment, as you could say, but also his faith. And I think those things really went hand in hand. And I think his wife Erica, who is an amazing warrior who I also had on this podcast, like Charlie at some point in the back in the past, I think Erica had a lot to do with Charlie's transformation there. And I fully believe she Saved his soul. But I wanted to share a little bit today, my thoughts about the legacy Charlie leaves behind right now and what you and I can do now moving forward in a world where Charlie is above us, not within us, he's not dwelling amongst us, he is among us martyr who earned that straight ticket to heaven. I believe that with all of my heart. You know, Charlie understood, I would say, the pro life movement better than some pro life leaders do. In fact, I was on his, or I was on his show in 2021. And then I think while we were at his studio, we recorded a podcast for, for my show. So that was at when we were calling the excessly pro life show. And I remember and if you. I went back this morning and I was looking at that show from 2021 we'd done together, the show from 2022 we had done together on my podcast. And if you look back at the 2021 show, Charlie had a pen in his hand the entire show and had notepad. And every time I was talking, Charlie was asking me questions and he was writing the answers. He was studying, he was learning. And I think that is why you saw this incredible shift in Charlie in years where he became this not only fearless defender for life, but also very strategic defender for life. And is why, you know, during the 2024 election, he and I would be trading text messages, me trying to see what was going on inside a Trump world, what the thoughts were. How could we move Trump world closer to the pro life worldview? How could we work with the president? And Charlie was, was so smart.
- [04:54]
B
We're working directly in harmony with the Trump campaign. It's been vetted, it's been cleared, it's been blessed, as you can see there. And we're going to try to win this thing. No guarantees. It's what we do that matters.
- [05:03]
A
And he knew kind of how to, how to talk to the president, how to talk to those within the broader conservative movement who may not be fully on board with our mission to abolish abortion, but how to move them in a way closer to us, closer to allowing us to achieve our goals. And I think, when I think now of not only of the loss of my friend, not only the loss of this incredible human being, this loss of this father and this husband and this movement leader. I also think about the loss that we will now feel as a movement, as a movement within the White House because Charlie was in that inner circle with President Trump. And really. And I, I want to tell you more, but I can't Tell you more of all of the incredible work that he did behind the scenes to get us to where we are right now in September 2025, with Planned Parenthood finally defunded of the majority of our tax dollars for a year, it's time to.
- [06:05]
B
Stop funding our political enemies.
- [06:08]
A
With so much amazing news coming out of the Department of Health and Human Services, amazing cabinet appointments, where even now the Department of Transportation is working on how we can shut down abortion facilities. Like, once again, more things I want to tell you, but I can't. But we're there because of the strategic insight and the wisdom and really the devotion to this cause that Charlie had. So I don't say that lightly, that Charlie understood the pro life movement, I think, better than some pro life leaders actually do. He understood, right, that change cannot happen in America unless two things happen, that we change hearts and minds towards the truth. And then those who follow the truth also become the majority elected leaders. In fact, at the National Pro Life Summit this January, I was honored to present Charlie, and I'm so, so thankful I did this. I was honored to present Charlie with Students for Life's Defender of Life Award. And he actually spoke about this in his remarks about how the pro life movement needs to be incrementalist and needs to be strategic and things aren't going to happen at the exact time we want them to happen, but not to give up.
- [07:18]
B
We have to be incrementalist when it comes to politics. Sometimes this is a fight that's going to take five years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years. And that's this social movement that is built here in this room. You're up for that fight. That's why you are the pro life generation.
- [07:34]
A
I think Charlie's, you know, wisdom and the wisdom he offered the pro life movement at the National Pro Life Summit this January is really shown in the debates he continued to have on college campuses. He died doing, debating peacefully with those who disagree with him. He understood. You couldn't. You can't force people to change their minds. I wish we could. We can't. You have to dialogue with them. And that doesn't mean insulting or yelling at them, but dialoguing, actually asking good questions and making people actually have to say some of the thoughts that they are thinking and out loud. That changes minds. Interesting. You're. You're exactly right. You did get me on that one. Dialogue done with compassion will change minds. And Charlie was changing a lot of minds. Not only was he having an effect in person on campuses, planting Seeds of truth. Even with those people who vehemently the students that would come up and vehemently disagree with him, but with the millions of who saw his videos and watched them online. We see this all the time at Students for Life with my campus tour videos, right? Even if I'm talking to maybe 10 people on a campus, sometimes I'm talking to 200, sometimes it's five. We don't always know, right? But when we get to a campus, but I know, not only do I have that opportunity to plant that seed of truth in the brain of the pro choice student I'm talking to, who, by the way, isn't probably going to say I've changed their mind in that moment. Because we know as humans we have this thing called ego and it's really hard for us to ever admit we are wrong. But maybe they'll change their minds later. Maybe when they're in the quiet of their dorm room or when, when this issue comes up again, they'll think about our conversation. But Charlie understood not only talking to that one person, you're talking to everyone who's listening. Many of whom, many of the people who won't come up to the mic at college, prove me wrong or change my mind events are those who want to listen and they actually do want to learn. But they're not going to come to the mic because they're going to say, I don't really feel convicted or I'm not sure. So you're talking to those mushy people, but then you're also talking to the millions who will have be able to watch this in the privacy of their home, laying in bed in their dorm room on their way to class, who then will be in a safer spot to change their mind, not having to put it out there openly that maybe they were wrong and he was changing minds. I mean, in fact, my DMs are literally flooded on my phone with people who've said, I've seen your videos. I saw Charlie's videos. My daughter's 3 months old, I'm 17. I chose life last year and didn't have the abortion. I mean, it's amazing, incredible the stories that are coming in from people across the world. And this is just a little, oh, me, my DMs. This is not even turning points DMs or Charlie's DMs, I'm sure his DMs right now are flooded. Charlie also understood that once you change minds, you've got to point people to action and you've got you know, especially we say this a lot in the pro life movement, right? Once you know the truth about abortion, you gotta act. I mean, you're. As Christians, we're compelled to act. What kind of Christians would we be if we said we knew abortion? Every abortion intentionally kills a human life who is also created in the image of God, who shares equal dignity and value to us. But, yeah, we don't care. And just if people want to abort their babies, go, so be it. That would make us really sucky Christians. So Charlie knew, once people knew the truth, once he had galvanized young people, he had to turn them out. And that's why President Trump largely put Charlie in charge of voter turnout in the 2024 election, while you saw massive shifts in the electorate, especially with young, young people, and particularly young men. And because Charlie knew to win votes, you had to go out as a conservative and engage with people who hadn't voted Republican before, not cast them off, not just make fun of them. We had to go and winsomely, you know, persuade them to join our cause and then in turn, register to vote and get to the polls on election Day. And this worked. It wasn't kind of the prevailing wisdom of the past where most campaigns will say, just go to your base, go to your base, go to your base. Charlie went out and made a new base of voters for the Republican Party, which I think you're seeing in President Trump and J.D. vance and all of these incredible Republican leaders who are rushing to were at the side of Erica, who have been there with Erica and the family, who are going to be at the memorial, the funeral of Charlie. And it worked because Charlie's dialogue worked. And I think that's what scared the other side. Good leaders change hearts, and good hearts elect good leaders. We're actively engaged in battles today right now in Washington, D.C. my staff's in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill for me today while I film this podcast for you, having conversations that would have never been possible had it not been for Charlie Kirk's campaign efforts and the success that Turning Point and Charlie had in mobilizing young people to vote. Hhs. As I mentioned at the beginning of the show, HHS is now revisiting the approval of deadly chemical abortion pills at the fda. Congress officially voted to defund Planned Parenthood of. More than 80% of our taxpayer dollars are Medicaid funds for the first time ever. After 20 years of fighting this, we finally got this done. I mean, it wasn't perfect. It was only one year. And, you know, me I'll tell you the truth, but that's massive. Now we have that on the record. Now we've proven that can be done. Right. These things wouldn't be happening right now if conservatives had lost in November 2024, full stop. Would not be happening. And Charlie knew this. The issue of life was dear to him.
- [13:42]
B
The fight for life is the most important thing of all the political issues. Kristen is great, by the way. She does a wonderful job. And these are going to be the working ground forces that will bring forth triumphant pro life victories to come.
- [13:55]
A
And it was such a privilege to be able to like cheer him on. Every time I would see him on TV defending, defending the sanctity of human life and defending life on college campuses. As I said, he wasn't always hardcore about the issue. If you watch the videos in the early years of Charlie and Turning Point and the interviews, most of the time it was economics that was his issue. Right. He was an econ nerd and he did a hell of a job defending conservative economic principles. But as Charlie grew in wisdom, understanding and love, Charlie's focus obviously expanded. He knew that when we live with the end in mind, everything else that is good is an outgrowth of that. When we live like we know who made us and who we belong to, a just economic policy ensues. A fruitful family policy ensues. A robust national defense policy that protects the innocent ensues. An education system that actually respects children ensues. A health care policy that honors and respect life ensues. Charlie loved Jesus. He loved Jesus and he loves Jesus. Today he's praising Jesus in heaven. That's what he's doing right now. That's his full time job. The fact became the central thesis of Charlie's life. That's the, that's what, that's what it was. That we serve a God who spoke the world into existence, who sent his only son to live and die for us so that we may spend eternity with him. That was the central thesis of Charlie's life, to spread that good news. And now it's the legacy of Charlie that has been entrusted to us. That when we love God, justice and peace ensue from that. When we love God, we don't kill our children in abortion. When we love God, we don't euthanize our grandparents. When we love God, we don't create humans in embryonic form just to discard them in a lab. When we love God, we don't fund organizations with our tax dollars that kill babies in the name of women's. Health. When we love God, we don't tell women they're more valuable building spreadsheets than building families. When we love God, there is life, abundant life. And that was what was Charlie was living out every single day. In fact, over the past couple of months, you've seen a lot of clips on social media, on X, on Instagram, of Charlie talking about his life, talking about what he loved about his life, how much he loved his life. He loved what he did at Turning Point. He loved his relationship with President Trump, he loved his wife Erica, and absolutely loved his children. He strongly encouraged this entire Gen Z to get married and have children. In July, just two months before the assassination, he posted on X, more people should get married young and have more kids than they can afford. As someone who did this myself, I can attest to the wisdom of Charlie's advice. I'm pretty sure my credit card company can too. And ever the smarty pants, Charlie knew that. The data also shows that Christians who do this are the happiest people. Happiest people. Just two years ago, the University of Chicago found that married religious people with children are the most happiest in all the United States of America. Charlie was living it. He knew it firsthand. And so he, he was having these conversations, young people. In fact, yesterday I was talking to the New York Times and this reporter I talked to on and off again, who doesn't share my views entirely on those things, I would say, but she was asking me about Charlie's impact and how young women, how they viewed young conservative women viewed Charlie. Because some of the things that Charlie was saying in the past few months really kind of, you know, ruffled a lot of feathers, right? He was talking about, you know, at the turning point young women's summit that they do every June, just this year, about how women, it's not bad to go to college to look for a husband, and it's not bad to look for a husband that's going to be afford to allow you to stay at home and homeschool your children. And it's, it was all smart things, right? It's all common sense, it's all wisdom. But in the psyche of today, 50 years after the launch of the feminist movement, it's jarring. Even as some conservative women would say this, it's jarring to hear those words and you're like, what, what did he just say? Why did he say it? Because he, he knew the truth and he never shied away from the truth. And it is true, women do want to have Spouses who provide for them. Women do want to have spouses who protect them. Now maybe the providing is done in a different way. Certainly in my house it's done differently. But that's what women want. And I think that's so fascinating is Charlie knew what women want. Probably his wife had something to do with it, right? He's a really good listener. Just like in that 2021 podcast I was talking about, the Notebook. He must have had a notebook out listening to his wife, listening. What is it that women actually are looking for? What they want. What they want someone to speak to. Which is why so many conservative women were so excited to hear, to hear from him on the subject and weren't dismayed, while there were others that were dismayed, you know, even me at one point I was like, oh my feministy wrapped feathers have been ruffled a little bit. Like how do I feel about what Charlie just said? And did Charlie say anything that was actually wrong or did it just feel, feel uncomfortable because we've heard something so countercultural, so different for so long. In fact, the day before he was assassinated, Charlie joined a podcast. I think it was even on Laura Ingram show on Fox. I was watching it for a conversation about an NBC poll that had just been published. I'll make sure I put the poll in the show notes. You should definitely say, or maybe we'll put it up on the show. We'll see. But the poll is shocking, right? It said that Gen Z women who voted for Kamala Harris There was 13 things and they had to choose what would be a success in their mind, right? Gen Z women listed having children as 12 out of 13 Gen Z men who voted for Harris. Children were a little higher, but not much more. Gen Z men who voted for Donald Trump. It was number one for Gen Z women who voted for Trump.
- [21:05]
B
I think it was four, five young women in particular. They have, I believe, been sold a mythology. Part of it is true, but mostly a lie that the 60s and 70s were nothing but oppressive for women. And the most thing, the most important thing that you must prioritize is your own freedom.
- [21:26]
A
Charlie said on that podcast there's something alarmingly dramatic happening. And he shared on that podcast that he wanted people to know the joy that he felt as a husband, as a, you know, a father, as a follower of Jesus Christ. And ultimately that's why they killed him. If Charlie had stuck to his econ nerdy speeches, I think he would still be here with us today. He'd be helping people, no doubt, but he wouldn't have been the huge threat to the evil in this world that wants people to be miserable, that doesn't want them to starve families and takes absolute delight in a culture of death. The Enemy took Charlie out when his voice for Jesus and family got too loud, when young people started following his example. There's tons of stories on the Internet of young men who said they quit porn because Charlie called them to living a higher standard. There's Internet filled with young women who said they've abandoned destructive feminist lies and decided that they too wanted to get married and have children because of Charlie and his witness. The Internet is filled with stories of young people who've veered off the path to hell and now have given their lives to Jesus Christ because of Charlie. I mean, churches were packed across the country last week with young people. So what did the Enemy do? They took him out. And for one dark moment, they laughed. They laughed. I don't know if you saw a video of me. I was actually on a campus. Charlie and I had texted the day before about Amfest and things like that. And I attempt some pictures of students who are excited to meet him on a college campus. But I was actually at the University of Montana doing the exact same thing as Charlie when he was shot. And there's footage. And we were filming this as we normally do. And for two hours, I've had students surrounding me. The Montana schools don't fail to disappoint with the angry people. I think this is why we need to build a wall around California. I think I've said it before, but they're ruining Montana. I had so many people upset that I said this to the University of Montana because Montanans are pissed to see this happening to their state. But anyway, for two hours, I had students debating with me that human life didn't matter. That fine, even if it was a human, it's life doesn't matter because of the convenience of the mother, how the mother feels or perceives the baby. I had one adult man who. I don't know if he was a TA or whatever. He was definitely not, like, living in the dorms, student on a bike, like, f them babies, kill them all. And that was just like when we were setting up, right? So for two hours, I had been having this open debate with over 100 students about abortion and why human life is valuable, innately valuable, that everyone's viable. And when I told them, my phone went off. I saw that Charlie had been shot. I didn't know how bad it was. No idea. I stayed on campus for about 45 minutes afterwards until it got too emotionally painful and my husband found out what happened and demanded I got off. But as soon as I told the students what happened, their first initial gut filmed reaction was to laugh and cheer. Charlie Kirk was just shot at his campus in Utah. Why are you laughing? I can't think of a better example that we are living in a culture of death than what happened at the University of Montana. Know you're laughing. So today when we were setting up, someone said, those babies, kill them all. That's what. And you laughed again. The devil, evil sh. Shrieked that day with victory when Charlie was shot 100%. And the culture of death cheered. Now, I would say if, you know, in the days I've had to think about. About what happened after Charlie was shot and I. I put the video up right online. I told my team even before we knew Charlie had passed away, get this video up. I want the world to see what people did and how they react. I want to show that evil right. Thinking back to why they did it, because certainly there wasn't peer pressure. They. I mean, they. I mean, maybe some of them, once they saw their friends laughing, they laughed or they cheered, but that was their initial reaction. Like the cameras were on their faces. Why did they do it? And I think at the end of the day, politics has become the God of this generation. For many of this generation, this generation, those in Gen Z who are not Christian, who do not believe in a point to this life or a point to suffering or a point to our existence. And it kind of all started with Barack Obama. I will tell you this, and many of you are listening were like, wait, what? I was a toddler when President Obama was president. So President Obama is a follower of a man named Saul Linsky. Saul Linsky was a radical community organizer in Chicago back in the day, I think like 50s, 60s, maybe. He actually dedicated his book to Lucifer, the first radical. Just FYI, Hillary Clinton did one of our college dissertations on Saulinsky. But Saul Alinsky has these principles for how do you change culture? How do you mobilize people? How do you produce transformative change when you're outnumbered? The book's called Rules for Radicals. You should get it. I have a copy of it up here. Then in the book, one of the biggest principles that President Obama, I mean, he used all the principles you could see all the time when he was president, was pitting haves against have nots. You can't. The principle in Saulinski and rules radicals is you're Never going to actually achieve change until you pit neighbor against neighbor. You find something that somebody has that somebody else wants. And President Obama did that. And we had this. Our first black American president. We were also to be excited about that. And what did that do to race relations in our country? Made them substantially worse. You want to know why the 2016 election was so mean and nasty? You can thank President Obama. It all started during this and this generation. If you reject God, you're going. You're going to make a God of something. We all know that. That's. The human brain is wired to make a God of something. If you don't serve the God who spoke the universe into existence, you're going to serve something. And they serve politics. And all they've ever seen, all many of you have ever seen, is an America of a very divided America. And so I think I'm trying to give the best intentions to what I saw, this evil right of, you know, because I. I know all these students aren't evil. But the evil that I saw come out of them, I think was really because Charlie was the enemy of their God. Their God being liberal democratic progressive politics. Charlie was an enemy of that. And the enemy of their God was. Was killed, was defeated. And so they cheered completely, not thinking about his humanity. I'm sure many of those students in that video probably regret what they did. I hope they do by now. Hopefully they don't get jobs one day, but I think that, I think that's part of it. And that's why, you know, our fall campus tour, Students for Life America that we're going to 160 campuses is the Every Life is Valuable tour is so appropriate. Right? This is something that, I mean, it's a prophetic title that every human life is valuable. Charlie Kirk's life was valuable. The child in the womb's life is valuable. I think that's why he was why they laughed. And I certainly know why Satan wanted him dead. But here's the deal. Satan is really bad at math. He didn't calculate the risk of what he was going to do when he whispered in that sniper's ear and told him to take the shot. He was calculating with this lady's math. The best part of this whole goddamn thing is that he is not martyr material. So his death will mean nothing. It will activate no one. It will impact few. It's just great. If you'd like me to make a little commercial, once again, why TikTok is the worst of humanity, I'd be happy to do that that's the math that Satan was doing. But, oh, he was wrong again. If you haven't been paying attention in the last week and a half since Charlie died, the impact Charlie was having during his life has been multiplied by orders of magnitude, multiplied. Tens of thousands of young people have been inspired by Charlie's example, and they're giving their life to Jesus. They're rejecting Satan. Churches are packed, as I said earlier. Nonprofits are recommitting in their fight to life. We had, you know, Turning Point saying over like 30,000 students have want to start a chapter. We've had dozens of new chapter leads at Students for Life, and no one's talking about Students for Life in the news, but people are saying, I, I've been following you forever. I know you're right. And I have to be like Charlie Kirk. I have to live like Kirk. Death had its moment, for sure. Many of us saw it. But life will always have the last word. And so I promise you today, every part of our work will become greater. I am tremendously honored to be the new CEO of Turning Point usa. So where do we go from here? We know Charlie left this incredible legacy and he's passed the baton, right? But where do each of us go from here? I think first thing, we have to grieve. I think this is important. You can't skip this part. Anyone who talks about grieving knows it's important to grieve when you've experienced a loss. Grieve and mourn and pray and process. I personally knew Charlie, and I'm grieving the loss of a friend. I'm grieving the loss of my friend's husband. I think there's many people far and wide, though, who are sharing in the grief. Even though they've never met Charlie and they're reporting, this feels like the death of the close friend. I don't understand. This feels different. I never met him. My husband's one of those people. I think it's because Charlie was us. Charlie would say things that we were thinking in our heads. And even though we never met Charlie, many of us, right, even though you might not have met him, he was one of us. He was one of you. The invisible world around us is just as real as our physical world. We know this as Christian and the invisible world, spiritual world. We are one body in Christ. In the invisible world, evil is fighting a war for our souls at every moment of every day. I think why so many feel this loss so personally is because even though they didn't fight shoulder to shoulder with Charlie in a physical way. They've been fighting along with him. Spiritually, they were fighting. You have been fighting with him, looking to him for leadership, for guidance in this battle for the soul of our country, to make America great again. Even those who were not yet believers but have been searching for truth found a kindred spirit in Charlie because they saw Charlie as a truth seeker, Catholic apologist and our friend at student's wife, Trent Horn. Shared quote When I found out Charlie had been shot and then he died, I felt like a lieutenant colonel had just found out that the general had been killed in battle. But Charlie didn't believe in battling or vilifying people. He believed, as the Bible says, in battling ideas. If you're feeling Charlie's loss in a deeply personal way, I want you to know you're not alone. And there's a reason for that. It's because you're supposed to carry on his legacy. Hey Pro Life Jen, are you ready to boldly stand for life in 2026? It's all on the line. And now courage is needed more than ever before. I want to see you at the 2026 National Pro Life Summit on Saturday, January 24th at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC. That's just the day after the National Pro Life March. Right now you can lock in an early bird discount, $20 off a ticket when you use the code EB20 at checkout. But don't wait because the special is going to end on Halloween. So. So it's EB20 at checkout. You'll save $20 off your student ticket to the 2026 National Pro Life Summit. We're going to be announcing more speakers in the coming months, but we're already thrilled to say that Brett Cooper of the Brett Cooper Show, Nick Friedis, Shane Winnings will be joining us amongst other leaders. This is the top pro life training event of the year in the entire world. So make sure you reserve your spot at Pro Life. Be a part of the pro Life Generation in 2026 and join us for what will be a sold out 2026 National Pro Life Summit. So I'm gonna give you three tangible things you can do. Next steps 1. Get your life in order. Clean house. You cannot give what you do not have. If you want to bring truth and love to the world like Charlie did, you have to possess truth and love. So you have to get your relationship with God right. That means overcoming addictions, reconciling broken relationships, forgiving people who've hurt you in your past. Get into a regular routine of prayer and church attendance. Give up the people or the things that lead you into sin. That's number one. Get your house clean. I think, you know, it's very clear. And as many of us will never face what Charlie faced, the death threats, I mean, I get some interesting ones, but you won't. Won't get these ones right. You're not at risk for being assassinated with a rifle bullet, but you're not promised tomorrow. None of us are. I think that's why a lot of young people are dealing with this, and for the first time, this loss and this grief, because many young people have never lost somebody in this such tragic way. A young person in a tragic way, somebody who's their age or maybe a little older. And it hurts. It hurts different than the loss of a grandparent or a great grandparent who's lived a long, prosperous, happy life. It hurts. It hurts different. Second, love the people in your own home. You love God as much as the person you love the least. For most of us, the people that we have the hardest time loving sometimes are those in our own families, our inner circle. You will not be able to love the stranger on the street unless you love those in your family. Well, we saw this in Charlie's life. How much love and genuine care and compassion he had for broken or hateful people who came up to debate him on campus always asked their names. He always told the crowd not to mock those who are clearly wounded. If you want to love strangers like Charlie did, love your family first. Something Erica said in her public address that was heartbreaking is that Charlie asked his wife every day, how can I be a better husband to you? The Kirk family kept the Sabbath. They put away devices, giving each other the full attention for the day. He loved fiercely his wife and his family. If you love fiercely in your home and your family, you will love fiercely the least of these, those whom you meet on the street. And I think the third thing you can do is not be afraid. If you've cleaned your spiritual house and you love your household, now you are ready to get out there and evangelize. And your hero who did this was just assassinated. So it's time to practice some courage, guys. Charlie was asked in an interview just this past June how he wanted to be remembered if he died. And he said, quote, for courage, for.
- [38:52]
B
My faith, I want to be remembered for courage, for my faith.
- [38:56]
A
Courage is exactly what Charlie had, and it's exactly what he's going to be remembered for. So what is courage? I Want to explain this? Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the willingness to confront fear despite the risks. It's doing the right thing despite the risks. And let me tell you something maybe you don't know. Life is a fatal pursuit. We are all going to die one day. Charlie knew that. I don't think he knew it would be from assassin's bullet, but I guarantee you he knew that was a possibility every time he stepped outside. He got death threats all the time. But he courageously showed up to dialogue his opponents every single day regardless, because he knew his life was well spent doing what he did every day because he loved. Going back to my earlier remarks, he loved Jesus. And if you love Jesus and you know the truth, you're called to speak the truth. You're called. You, pro lifegen are called to live with that same courage. You need to be able and be willing and be courageous enough to engage in dialogue, to tell people about Jesus Christ, tell people why you defend innocent, precious children in the womb. You need to be able to see the human inside every person you're talking to when you do that, even on the other side. And you might face risks. You all know this. As Students for Life leaders, you all might face some risks. Somebody coming up destroying your table. Somebody coming up saying nasty things to you. A professor that you need a good grade from saying nasty things to you. Your risk might not be the level of Charlie's risk, or sadly now mine when I enter a college campus, but you still need courage too. So have courage if you're Catholic, if you believe that saints can intercede in their prayers for you, which I believe you can pray and ask Charlie, hey, send up a prayer too, and help me out. Pray to Jesus, pray to the saints and ask them to pray for you. Pray and act and carry out Charlie's legacy with courage and faith. That's my final call to you. This episode is brought to you by the Pro lifegen shop and our brand new hot off the press Planned Parenthood tears mug. This is a custom Kristin Hawkins designed mug that I specifically requested because I have been waiting for a long, long time for Planned Parenthood to be funded. So for $10, actually $9.99, you can get your Planned Parenthood tears mug. So just go to shop.prolifegen.org and get your mug today and you can save sip your coffee or energy drink, in my case, in a brand new mug celebrating the fact that we finally defunded Planned Parenthood because of you and I. I want to thank you all for joining today's episode of the Kristen Hawkins Show. I know it's a little different than my normal podcast episode, but I promise I'll be back in a week and a half with more Pro Life news and updates. Because our work is far from over, guys. We have a lot more we need to do, so make sure you subscribe and follow for more discussions like this. You can follow this podcast wherever you're watching it, and make sure you follow me on social media so you can get all the updates. Hi everyone.