These are dark days. This past week’s events have left me drained, as well as deeply saddened. As we prepared to mark the 24th anniversary of 9/11, two horrific events took place the day before. On September 10 at about 12:30, a 16-year-old shooter with a handgun wounded two fellow students at Evergreen High School in the Denver suburbs, then took his own life. Though Desmond Holly’s motive at this time is unclear, it was reported that he was radicalized by some extreme network.”
At about the same time, a 22-year-old armed with a high-power rifle fired a single shot and assassinated Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative, Christian, political activist who was attending an event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The assassin, identified as Tyler Robinson from the small town of Washington, Utah, is in custody and has reportedly confessed. It is unclear at this time if there were others involved in the murder.
My heart breaks for the families affected by these and other politically-motivated acts of violence. Rhetoric from the media and individuals with differing views is certainly partly responsible. When people who hold opposing positions or opinions are characterized as “animals, fascists, nazis, racists and dangerous,” along with other epithets, there are those who feel they should be “eliminated,” and feel justified in taking such action. We have to change our hearts and we have to change the dialogue.
As terrible as the events of 9/11/2001 were, they brought us together as a people and as a nation. We need to get back to that unity, and to address together the mindset that is present in so many places...that anyone who disagrees with us is the enemy. The only enemy is the mindset itself.
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