Forgiveness Across Faiths

All life is sacred. When a life of promise is taken away, the promise often shines even brighter. So can be the case with Charlie Kirk.

Erica Kirk couldn't have said it better at her husband's memorial. Then she referred to her husband's killer.

"I forgive him because it was what Christ did and is what Charlie would do, ... The answer to hate is not hate. The answer we know from the gospel is love and always love. Love for our enemies and love for those who persecute us."

In a memorial service clouded by some distasteful and occasionally hateful rhetoric, Erica drew strength in her personal tragedy from Christian ideals of love and forgiveness.

A decade ago, in 2015, a Muslim cleric in Lexington, Kentucky, met his challenge. A teenager had robbed and killed his son. In the court where the robber was sentenced to 31 years in prison, witnessed by all present, Abdul Munim Sombat Jitmoud embraced the convict, expressed his sympathy, and forgave him for having taken his son's life. A kind and gentle soul, beloved by all who knew him, Abdul Munim Jitmoud had embodied the Islamic ideals of forgiveness and kindness.

Erica and Abdul Munim both found comfort and guidance in their spiritual home. They rose above the mundane and touched heavenly inspiration. They may not know each other, but the angels in heaven will know them as kindred spirits.

Your thoughts?

How do Americans vote?

American democracy is only as strong as the ability and commitment of Americans to exercise their right to vote. 

Pretty straightforward. Everyone knows that. A ballot and a ballot box. That's it.

No, it isn't. A vote is more than just a printed sheet of paper with tiny circles to fill in. It is more than that. A vote is a voice raised, a letter sent, a debate engaged. And this vote is also decisive. It can be cast, changed, and withdrawn at the voter's will.

In these strange times, when things are getting curiouser and curiouser, as Alice would say in her Wonderland, Americans need to exercise these not-so-subtle versions of the vote.

This vote resides in American wallets, and in the choices they make with what is in their wallets. 

A business acts in a manner that is likely to damage American democratic culture and institutions? Let Americans vote with their wallets to determine what they buy, what they subscribe to, what they can cancel, and what they can shun. Let enough Americans do that to win the "election."

Pretty simple. The trick is to get enough voters to use the "wallet" vote, even when only a minority of Americans vote in traditional elections.

Remember Ralph Nader, celebrated in the Automotive Hall of Fame? He made Americans conscious of the relationship between a business and its products and the consumers' ability and willingness to support or not that product or company. 

Voting via the wallet, right?