PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DAILY MAIL

Photo of Charlie Kirk speaking at a Turning Point USA event.

With recent events, it’s evident to see that America is divided. With hatred being at the forefront, empathy is something that’s becoming foreign while hypocrisy is something shared by every side.

After the death of Charlie Kirk, people who once stood for gun control celebrated the act and those who made jokes about the murders or misfortune of people who didn’t agree with them turned towards those celebrating Kirk’s death and called for their jobs to be lost. 

While conservatives kept saying Kirk was killed for exercising his first amendment right, they turned around and got Jimmy Kimmel, along with many others, fired for doing the same: Expressing their opinions and using their first amendment rights. 

Now, obviously, everyone has freedom of speech and they have to be ready for the consequences that follow but, personally, it’s entirely hypocritical to get people, who are stating their opinions, fired when many of the same people calling for that justice are the same people who have made jokes about George Floyd’s death or Joe Biden’s cancer. 

Erika Kirk said during the memorial that she forgave the murderer because it’s what Jesus taught but then Donald Trump came up and said he hates his enemies. That he hates everyone that disagrees with him.

“I hate my opponent, and I don’t want the best for them,” Trump said during the memorial. 

On the other side of the coin, those calling for gun control cannot turn around and celebrate the moment someone that doesn’t share their beliefs gets killed. 

While I didn’t agree with practically anything Kirk said, I did not once celebrate the death of a young father who was killed by something that kills hundreds of school kids a year. It’s insanely counterintuitive and hypocritical.

Neither side can pick and choose who they care about. No single person is more important than another because if Kirk truly was the Christian martyr people are making him out to be, why don’t people act like it?

Jesus called everyone to love their neighbor, even if said neighbor didn’t agree with a single thing they did so why is political violence and basic humanity becoming a party vs party debate? 

Because, once again, it’s all about picking and choosing and being hypocritical.

You cannot quote scripture to judge someone when you aren’t living the life you’re supposed to. You cannot care about a death only when their beliefs match yours. You can be a bigger person. 

So what if this person spewed hate on groups you love? You can be the bigger person and have empathy for them and their family. Don’t give anyone a reason to hate you. Be kind, even when others may not deserve your kindness. You’d rather someone only be able to say good things about you during gossip and not the bad. 

While, yes, Kirk believed empathy was made up, saying sympathy was a better term in general, we should still have empathy for everything going on, empathy for Kirk’s family, empathy for the families that have gone through school shootings.

Most everyone can relate to losing a loved one. Maybe they weren’t murdered but decent humans are still able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, able to feel both sympathy and empathy for them. 

Whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, independent or everything and anything in between, it shouldn’t matter. We’re all humans and we should all care and love one another no matter our beliefs, backgrounds or lifestyles.

Categories: Opinion