The Courage to Keep Talking.

Why Discourse Is Our Only Way Forward.

Yesterday, a 31-year-old man walked onto a college campus to do something that used to be respected (and common) in America: have conversations with people who disagreed with him.

He never walked off.

Someone shot him.

Not for dealing drugs. Not for threatening anyone.

For sitting in a chair, asking questions & listening to answers from people who hated his ideas.

Let that sink in for a moment. In 2025, ideas became a death sentence.

You may not agree with his politics.

But here's what no one could argue with: Charlie Kirk had more courage than most people we see in public life.

While most political figures hide behind friendly crowds and curated social media feeds, this man did the opposite.

Week after week, he walked into events full of people who despised everything he believed.

And his message was simple… "Let's talk."

Disagree with him? You got moved to the front of the line.

Most of us get nervous presenting reports to colleagues. But he made it his life's work to debate his deepest convictions with crowds that wanted to destroy him.

On camera. In public. With limited security.

He'd sit at a folding table on hostile college campuses and invite anyone to challenge him face-to-face. The angrier you were, the more interested he became in hearing what you had to say. He listened to people attack him personally, then responded with ideas instead of insults.

That's what democracy looks like when it actually works.

what actually dies when we stop talking?

This wasn't just a murder of a husband and father.

It’s much worse than that.

This was the assassination of an idea that's kept America together for 250 years- that we can talk our way through our differences.

It’s domestic terrorism. And here’s what happens next.

Every public figure now has to calculate whether expressing an idea is worth risking their life. Every college speaker has to wonder if they'll make it home alive. Every person with a controversial thought has to weigh whether speaking up is worth the danger.

The killer didn't just silence one voice. They sent a message to everyone, "Shut up, or you're next."

And this is how free societies die.

Not through invasion or revolution, but through the gradual understanding that it's not safe to think out loud anymore.

And the most disturbing part is social media.

Thousands of people celebrating. Not horrified by political violence, but actually cheering for it.

They've decided that eliminating opponents is easier than persuading them, that killing ideas is simpler than defending their own.

They've chosen violence over debate. Murder over discourse. Terror over thought.

what future will we create for our children?

The victim often talked about the world he wanted to leave for his children.

He had young kids who are now growing up knowing their father was murdered for asking questions and listening to answers.

But this isn't just about stealing opportunity from his family. This is about stealing it from yours too.

Right now, we're teaching the next generation that different opinions are dangerous. That disagreement equals hatred. That the best response to challenging ideas is violence. That democracy is too hard and too risky to bother with.

We're raising children who will be afraid to think differently, speak honestly, or engage with anyone who challenges them.

We're creating a generation of intellectual cowards who will retreat into ideological bunkers rather than risk the kind of engagement that keeps societies thriving .

What happens to a country where people are too scared to disagree? Where every political difference becomes an existential threat? Where citizens give up on the hard work of democracy because violence seems easier or inevitable?

our choice will define everything

We're at a crossroads that will determine whether America survives as a free society.

We can respond to this murder by retreating further into our echo chambers. We can decide that political engagement is too dangerous and let cowards control the conversation.

Or we can do what the victim did every day of his adult life: show up anyway. Have the hard conversations anyway. Engage with people who disagree anyway.

Trust that society works when brave people are willing to work at it.

The victim proved something most of us have forgotten: you can be absolutely committed to your principles while treating people who challenge them with respect.

You can fight for your beliefs without dehumanizing those who fight against them. You can hold strong convictions while having the strength to hear them questioned.

That's not just good politics, but is exactly what separates strong people from weak people.

the choice transcends politics

This transcends every political label you can imagine. Liberal, conservative, progressive, libertarian- none of that matters anymore.

What matters is whether we're strong enough to live with people who think differently.

Whether we still believe ideas should be tested through debate rather than enforced through fear. Whether we have the courage to engage in the messy, difficult, essential work of that needs doing.

The question you will have to confront is: Am I brave enough to have conversations with people who disagree with me? Am I willing to show up where my ideas will be challenged?

Because if we aren’t, everything that makes America worth living in eventually dies.

The future of our world- and our children, depends on your answer.

Until next time,

Tiffany

If you found this piece valuable, please like and share. In a time when conversation is becoming dangerous, we need to keep talking. It's what democracy requires. It's what our kids deserve.