My Dinner with Charlie Kirk

I’m nobody. There isn’t any reason for me to have dinner with Charlie Kirk. But I was at a friends house with some other filmmakers and, just as dinner was winding down, Charlie walked in.

At the time, I have to admit, I had never seen any of his videos. I had heard of him, he was on my radar. But my focus was on other things.

He was seated next to me and given a plate. For around an hour we sat and talked. I watched him respond to people that came up to introduce themselves, say thank you, and tell him things that they thought he should know. Everything from ways the book of Revelation was being fulfilled to reports on his positive influence on high schoolers at one person’s church. He stopped the conversation and gave each person his full attention and was very gracious. He really was a class act all evening. Eminently civil.

Then he would turn back to our conversation. We talked theology, philosophy, history. We talked about a few books that he was reading. What stood out was his genuine hunger to learn.

Like I said, I’m nobody. I had nothing to offer beyond conversation, but he honed in and gave his full attention. He was genuinely curious, an excellent conversationalist, and wasn’t looking around the room for the people with money or influence. At the end of the evening, he gave me his cell phone number and said to text if I was ever coming back through Arizona.

I went onto the Turning Point YouTube that evening to subscribe. I watched a few of the videos and saw the same guy surrounded by crowds and protestors. And when I say the same guy, I mean that. He was trying to have civil conversations in an uncivilized world. He was keeping his head when everyone about him was losing theirs.

I never texted him. I assume he was just being polite. Like I said, I’m a nobody. But what was obvious that evening, Charlie never treated anyone like a nobody.

His assassination is a tragedy. My family is praying for his. I’m praying for our country. I do hope that we get to see his hope for a return to civility. I don’t know what comes next, but we are less in our loss of Charlie Kirk.