Editor, Ceres Courier,

I was very young when I heard Charlie Kirk speak for the first time. Scrolling on social media, I would get mad every time he popped up on my feed. I was entirely closed off to what he believed and said. As an atheist, my objective morality stood above whatever Charlie had to say. But Charlie was actively changing the world, and getting him off my feed was impossible.

I remember the day Charlie changed my mind a little bit. I’ll spare the politics, but he made a point that genuinely blew my mind. After that, I started to notice how strong his arguments were getting. I didn’t necessarily agree with any of them, but he was making strong moral points that changed ever so slightly how I thought about some issues.

Every time he would come on my screen, it was a war of concepts. Albeit one-sided, I watched his videos and waged this hypothetical war because I was genuinely curious. I was curious if Charlie Kirk would win this argument or if I would become further strengthened in my ideas. I never watched those videos, hoping that I or he would win. I was simply interested in the ideas, and I wanted to know what the objective truth was.

I had respect for him. Not because I agreed with him, as I disagreed frequently, but because he had conviction and a willingness to talk about challenging things. There are so many other conservative influencers out there, but when I hear them speak, it’s obvious to me they don’t care what they are talking about. For better or worse, when I heard Charlie speak, I knew for a fact he meant everything he said. I no longer cared about it being Charlie on the other end of that video and only cared about the validity of his ideas.

I think he gave people the confidence to speak up for what they believe in. He gave people a space to question things, no matter how unpopular. He brought debates to college campuses, which, really, is where it’s supposed to be. He gave everyone confidence in their ideals, quite literally.

You do not know what your opinions are until you have had them challenged. You do not know what your opinions are until you have had the opportunity to defend them, and he gave that to people, constantly.

Charlie never knew I existed, so all the “debates” we had were one-sided. But it is a dark day knowing that I will never hear another one of Kirk’s debates. I hate that I will never be able to determine if he is correct or if I am. I hate that I will never be able to hear him say something so eloquently that it actually changes my mind.

So, thank you, Charlie Kirk. For every time you changed my mind. For every time you strengthened my own ideals by testing them. Your ideas were stronger than mine sometimes, and I think that means something.

Charlie Gould

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