It’s been over 24 hours since Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University for the first stop of Turning Point USA’s “The American Comeback Tour.” 

After hearing the news, I took some time to analyze what is going on in our nation. 

Kirk was a husband, father, Christian, American right-wing activist, the Turning Point USA founder and most importantly, he was a human.

When will we learn as a society that this isn’t about politics, not about guns, not about the left or the right, not about the things that you say, and recognize that no person deserves to die such a gruesome death? 

America is bleeding, and it needs to wake up. 

This is not limited to Kirk, and this is not a story meant only to grieve him. This is meant to grieve what we as a humanity could be if we ever learned to love. However, the weight of evil has fallen heavily on our nation recently. 

Kirk was assassinated for fighting a fight that others didn’t agree with, using his free speech. Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on Aug. 22 in Charlotte, North Carolina, for merely sitting on a train, successfully escaping the war ongoing in her home country, only to be brutally murdered after entering the land of the free. 

Two young children died and over 20 children were injured in the mass shooting that occurred at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Aug. 25. There was yet again another school shooting on Sept. 10 in Evergreen, Colorado, at Evergreen High School, leaving two students in critical condition. Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were shot and killed in June in an act of political violence. Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot for the same reason. 

And what about all the international wars and horrific genocides occurring overseas in different countries? Israel and Palestine, Russia and Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan, just to name a few. Is anyone even batting an eye at these?

I am over the “politics this” and “politics that” conversations that flood our schools, workplaces, social media platforms, etc. I’m angered over the levels of desensitization our society has come to. Evil has no sides, and neither does love. As much as evil is a choice, everyone has the choice and the free will to love. 

Our society finds pleasure in showing hatred to one another. We feed off the feeling that we may have “won” an argument against someone from our opposing side. We boast with pride and fight for the recognition and bragging rights of falling under the category of the “better side.” This is not a left-only problem or right-only problem, this is an ongoing issue between both parties that continues to deepen our divide. 

I would find peace in saying that as a nation, at least we can find common ground and grieve the death of any individual, regardless of who they are. However, this is not true today.

Kirk died a gruesome death that neither his family nor the hundreds of college students who gathered to hear him speak should have seen. 

Yet after all of this, both political parties cannot rest for one day to simply acknowledge the tragic passing of a son, husband and father, without finger-pointing with anger and aggression, and simply missing the entire point.

Individuals are okay with publicly commenting disgusting memes and words of pure hatred underneath social media posts about the death, celebrating at the feet of murder. This cannot be the new normal. It doesn’t matter how much you disagree with an individual. 

The compassion is evidently not there. The day we celebrate murder is the day we know our society has fallen.

Ask yourself a question of self-reflection. What is this all for?

Kirk did not insult or personally target. He debated and desired the presence of respectful disagreements instead of surrendering to the hands of silence.

Zarutska finally had access to a better life and died sitting in a train. Children went to school, eager to set the paths of their futures straight before them, only to miraculously escape death or have these futures cut short. 

State legislators were attacked in their homes due to their political beliefs. Innocent families and children overseas are tortured and killed, leaving their blood on the hands of corrupt governments.

Every single one of these cases deserves to be spoken about and grieved, not one more than another, because we are all human beings. 

It is deeper than laws and reformation. A killer will find a way to kill, no matter what it takes. Objects that are meant to protect us don’t commit crimes; people do. Once society acknowledges that violence is not the answer, then maybe things will change.

Until then, no law can fix the heart.