Political violence must be condemned in all its deplorable forms. Last week, we lost a 31-year-old young man, Charlie Kirk, by the act of a cowardly madman.

An evil doer may have thought he prevailed when he took the life of this young man with a beautiful wife and kids, but evil failed miserably. Our prayers should continue to go out to the Kirk family along with our thanks for sharing Charlie with all of us. May God strengthen the family now and in the days and years ahead.

Fair fight? In the days of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr people could exercise “political violence” via a fair duel. The cowards of today hide and shoot the unarmed then attempt to sneak away, acting demonic, these barbaric creatures.

Hate, violence, and evil are part of Satan’s works. Love, peace, and joy are all about God. We must pray for the former group and encourage more folks to embrace the latter group.

Being willing to face audiences on a college campus or in any forum, as Kirk often did, when his presence was unwanted, is the opposite of cowardly. Today, it is a display of courage. But in America one should not have to be “courageous” while expressing one’s views or seeking debate. Free speech is the essence of America.

I never met Charlie. Nor am I on many social media platforms. His audience did not get their information and news from CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite every evening like my generation. Back in my day when we saw something on television, when a journalist said it, it had to be true. Well, today we know that is not so anymore. We have evidence from both the left and right — the credibility of each has been tarnished. We have seen substantial changes at the major networks and lawsuits due to political bias and a cable network forking up billions of dollars to companies for fraudulent remarks that promoted an election untruth.

So where would the Gen Zers turn? Social media. Along with using this new medium, Charlie did something old-fashioned. He actually went into the lion’s den to talk to people on college campuses across the country offering to debate folks.

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas had a series of debates that were historic in the 19th Century. They were men with different ideas but a common goal for America. Kirk’s debates in the 21 st Century, however, were for anyone, anyone who wanted to challenge his thoughts and ideas.

Charlie did it by taking on everyone all by himself, which was often recorded for the world to see, raw and uncensored.

Once again, the point is not to embrace or agree with anyone’s ideas completely, but it was to get you to think, and to use your God-given talents to grow and learn as a person.

Do your homework, do your own research, study and objectively analyze the situation and draw your “own” conclusion. And, if you seek to be a leader, convince others you are right.