00:18About maybe 10 or 12 years ago, a person I knew very well had been very helpful to me in my campaigns when I was in the Senate.
00:26She came to me and said she had met this very impressive young man, and he was going to start this group to go on college campuses and try to convince young Americans that ours is the greatest country in the history of the world and that Marxism was bad.
00:45And I remember thinking back then, I'm going to admit to you guys, I was a little skeptical.
00:49I said, college campuses, you're going to do that?
00:51Why don't you start somewhere easier, like, for example, Communist Cuba, you know?
00:56But my skepticism was proven wrong.
01:01And place after place over the last 12, 14, 16 years, we've seen this renaissance.
01:07Understand where we were at that time in our history.
01:11Understand where we are still today in many places, where young Americans are actively told that everything that they were taught,
01:17that all the foundations that made our society and our civilization so grand, they were all wrong, they were all evil,
01:24that marriage is oppressive, that children are a burden, that America is a source of evil, not of good in the world.
01:30And here was this voice that inspired a movement in which young Americans were told,
01:34that is not true.
01:36The highest calling we are called to is to be in a successful marriage and to raise productive children.
01:43And a movement that taught them that ours was not a great country, but the greatest, most exceptional nation that has ever existed in the history of all of mankind.
01:59And that it's worth fighting for, it's worth defending, it's worth preserving, and it's worth passing on to the next generation.
02:06This was the mission and the work of Charlie Kirk.
02:15And a couple things that stand out about him, he led this movement, but he did so with incredible knowledge.
02:22It's unbelievable how much he knew.
02:25He came to me very recently, he said some quote, he said, I said, who said that?
02:29He said, Marcus Aurelius.
02:30I said, what district does he represent?
02:32I kind of knew who it was, but he said back, no, it's a Roman, you know, philosopher king or emperor.
02:43His incredible knowledge.
02:44Let me tell you that one of the last messages I had with him was just a few days before his passing, where he wrote me from overseas.
02:51I'm in South Korea.
02:52I have many concerns I want to share with you when I get back.
02:56He was constantly expanding his horizons, but he just didn't have knowledge.
02:59He had wisdom, an uncanny amount of wisdom for a man as young as he was.
03:05Wisdom that sometimes it takes a lifetime to accumulate.
03:08He had it in just 31 years.
03:13He was also bold.
03:15It is so easy.
03:17And listen, I've been guilty of it.
03:19I think many of us have been guilty of this.
03:21You hide behind the walls and you surround yourself with people that agree with you.
03:25We do it as a society all the time.
03:28Increasingly, people are moving into neighborhoods with other people that agree with them politically and isolate themselves from people that do not agree with them.
03:37But Charlie Kirk was bold.
03:38He actively sought out to engage peacefully, respectfully, those who he disagreed with.
03:43As recently as two days ago, we learned of one of the hosts on CNN who said that one of the messages he had gotten just a few days before Charlie's passing was from him, inviting him to dialogue.
03:55And he did this on campuses.
03:56He did this on podcasts.
03:58He did this on radio shows.
03:59He did this on television shows.
04:01Time and again, he sought to engage those he disagreed with because he understood that we were not created to isolate ourselves from one another, but to engage.
04:09The irony in all this is that what our nation needs, one of the many things it needs is the ability to discuss our differences openly, honestly, peacefully, respectfully.
04:20And Charlie Kirk did that more than anyone alive in America today is doing.
04:24And Charlie Kirk was impactful, impactful because of all the things I've said, but look around this place.
04:38There's a hundred something thousand people here.
04:40The president of the United States is here.
04:42His entire cabinet is here.
04:45Television outlets and media outlets from all over the world are covering this.
04:49I just came from overseas and every country I saw they're covering this.
04:52I just came from overseas and every country I stopped, they gave us their condolences for his passing.
04:57Impactful.
04:58In just 31 years of life, he made a difference.
05:03He mattered.
05:04And he will matter now more than he ever has before.
05:07And let me close with this.
05:10How do you remember?
05:12This is a memorial service.
05:13It's to honor him.
05:14How do you best remember it?
05:15I'll take the liberty of saying what I think we can best do.
05:18Look, I think he had a tremendous impact on young Americans in general.
05:23I think he had a very special and direct impact on young men in this country.
05:28That's one of the greatest developments I've seen.
05:30It's been very positive.
05:31I think we remember him for that.
05:33I think we remember him for constantly saying, you want to live a productive life?
05:44Get married.
05:44Start a family.
05:45Love your country.
05:46These are powerful messages.
05:47But I hope many who are watching, I imagine there are people watching here tonight that
05:52didn't know much about Charlie Kirk until 11 days ago.
05:56Maybe they were disengaged from politics.
05:57Maybe they were partially engaged.
05:59I hope one of the things they take from this is that the movement Charlie Kirk led and started
06:04and gave fuel to was about politics, but not only about politics.
06:08It was deeper.
06:09It was broader.
06:10And I would say that, taking the liberty, but I'm confident he would agree, one of the
06:16things he wants us to take away from this, from all of this, is the following.
06:22His deep belief that we were all created, every single one of us, before the beginning of time
06:28by the hands of the God of the universe, an all-powerful God, who loved us and created us
06:34for the purpose of living with him in eternity.
06:36But then sin entered the world and separated us from our creator.
06:41And so God took on the form of a man and came down and lived among us.
06:46And he suffered like men.
06:48And he died like a man.
06:50But on the third day, he rose unlike any mortal man.
06:55And then, and to prove any doubters wrong, he ate with his disciples so they could see
07:03and they touched his wounds.
07:04He didn't rise as a ghost or as a spirit, but as flesh.
07:09And then he rose to the heaven, but he promised he would return.
07:12And he will.
07:13And when he returns, because he took on that death, because he carried that cross, we were
07:19freed from the sin that separated us from him.
07:21And when he returns, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and we will all be together,
07:26and we are going to have a great reunion there again with Charlie and all the people we love.
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