Tulsi Gabbard Honors Charlie Kirk's Legacy of Faith, Freedom, and Fearless Dialogue at Memorial Service

[00:00] [Applause]

[00:00] The director of national intelligence,

[00:02] Tulsi Gabbard.

[00:29] Aloha.

[00:35] In the book of Corinthians, Paul said,

[00:39] "Therefore, we are always of good

[00:41] courage."

[00:45] And know that while we are at home in

[00:48] the body, we are absent from the Lord.

[00:52] We are of good courage, I say, and

[00:54] prefer to rather be absent from the body

[00:58] and be home with the Lord.

[01:03] Ultimately for every one of us

[01:07] the time that we have in this world is

[01:10] temporary.

[01:12] Our time will come sooner or later. And

[01:16] so the critical question that we have

[01:18] for ourselves is whatever time we have,

[01:23] what are we doing with it? How are we

[01:25] making the most of every day that we

[01:28] have?

[01:29] [Music]

[01:30] And Charlie Kirk every single day

[01:35] carried out his mission motivated

[01:38] by his faith in Jesus Christ and his

[01:41] unwavering dedication to defending our

[01:44] God-given freedoms enshrined in our

[01:46] Constitution and Bill of Rights.

[01:49] Because of his commitment and

[01:51] dedication,

[01:54] his impact here and around the world is

[01:57] profound.

[01:59] And it is a beautiful thing to see it

[02:02] playing out. Now,

[02:05] probably like many of you, I had the

[02:06] privilege of joining Charlie at some of

[02:08] his different campus visits and it was

[02:12] truly something to behold

[02:15] because he did things that no one else

[02:18] would do. As I sat with him in the very

[02:19] first time, huge crowd, thousands and

[02:22] thousands of yes, students, but faculty

[02:24] members and people of all different

[02:26] ages. And the first two or three people

[02:28] who had stood in line waiting to say

[02:31] something to Charlie were very kind and

[02:33] they thanked him for his work. They

[02:35] praised him. They talked about how he

[02:38] positively impacted their lives. And it

[02:41] was powerful to witness and to see.

[02:44] But Charlie wasn't there for praise.

[02:48] He would call to the crowd and say,

[02:50] "Hey, who here disagrees with me? Come

[02:53] to the front of the line."

[02:56] He listened carefully to everyone. Even

[03:00] when others in the crowd booed whoever

[03:03] was speaking, he told them to be quiet

[03:05] and to let this person speak, to show

[03:07] them respect. And he engaged in that

[03:11] lively debate. He encouraged it. He

[03:13] welcomed it. And he inspired it in

[03:15] others.

[03:18] Not belittling them. Not arguing just to

[03:20] argue, but to have a real sincere

[03:23] dialogue.

[03:26] You know, I've said many times, and

[03:29] every soldier lives this fact, this

[03:32] truth. I may disagree with what you say,

[03:35] but I will defend to the death for your

[03:36] right to say it. Charlie lived by this

[03:39] principle.

[03:51] Charlie lived by the principle that no

[03:53] matter how horrible another person's

[03:55] speech may be, their ideas

[03:58] must be defeated by better ideas, not by

[04:02] resorting to violence.

[04:12] You know, Charlie was killed on

[04:14] September 10th. On September 11th, we

[04:17] observed the 24th anniversary of the

[04:19] Islamist terrorist attack on our country

[04:23] 24 years ago. Now, these events have

[04:26] something in common. They were both

[04:28] carried out by those who hold on to

[04:31] ideologies that cannot stand up to

[04:34] scrutiny and challenge. So they feel

[04:36] that their only recourse is to commit an

[04:39] act of violence to silence those who

[04:41] oppose them and to intimidate and

[04:44] terrorize others into silence.

[04:48] This is the definition of terrorism.

[04:52] We cannot allow ourselves to be

[04:54] terrorized into silence.

[04:56] We need to live Charlie Kirk's example,

[05:00] the example that he set that are

[05:03] captured by the words of Reverend Martin

[05:06] Luther King. Darkness cannot drive out

[05:08] darkness. Only light can do that. Hate

[05:11] cannot drive out hate.

[05:14] Only love can do that. This was more

[05:17] than a quote from an icon in our past to

[05:21] Charlie. He lived this every day and he

[05:25] inspired countless people around the

[05:27] world to do the same to

[05:39] and in the wake of this tragedy. This

[05:41] has been what to me has been beautiful

[05:44] to see how today and you know Sunday

[05:47] football games all across the country

[05:50] these teams were leading moments of

[05:52] silence putting pictures of Charlie up

[05:54] on the big screen having a fly over with

[05:57] the flags flying at half staff to honor

[06:01] the impact of Charlie's life how he

[06:04] positively inspired countless people

[06:08] and how it's up to us to continue

[06:11] Charlie's legacy. It's time for us every

[06:15] day in how we engage with others to

[06:18] choose to live aloha,

[06:22] love, respect.

[06:32] You know, from my home state of Hawaii,

[06:34] the reason why we greet each other with

[06:36] the word aloha is because of its deeply

[06:40] spiritual meaning. It doesn't actually

[06:42] mean hello or goodbye.

[06:45] We greet each other with aloha because

[06:46] what we are really saying when we say

[06:48] aloha is I see you as a child of God and

[06:53] I respect you as such.

[06:56] It is to recognize that God is all

[06:59] powerful and God's love is all powerful.

[07:04] Love is not weak.

[07:06] Respect for others is not weak. There is

[07:10] nothing more powerful than love.

[07:14] Living aloha, living that love and

[07:16] respect. It doesn't mean being a

[07:18] pacifist or rolling over when our ideas

[07:21] are challenged or when our freedoms are

[07:23] under attack. Actually, it's the exact

[07:24] opposite.

[07:26] It means standing up fueled by love to

[07:30] defeat hate, to defeat that evil and

[07:33] that darkness, and to speak the truth

[07:35] and defend our fundamental freedoms that

[07:37] are granted to us by God.

[07:41] Charlie lived this.

[07:49] Charlie embodied this. And Charlie

[07:51] changed hearts and minds of countless

[07:54] people around the world because he made

[07:56] a conscious choice every day to choose

[08:01] love.

[08:02] I had a friend of mine who sent me a

[08:04] text

[08:06] um the day after Charlie was killed,

[08:09] really distraught,

[08:12] and she said, "What do we do now?"

[08:16] I know the answer should be love. The

[08:18] answer should be peace. But Charlie

[08:20] tried that and it didn't work.

[08:24] And my response to her was, "No,

[08:27] it did work powerfully."

[08:40] And that's why they killed him.

[08:43] We look at the movement that Charlie

[08:45] inspired around the world. love, truth,

[08:48] freedom, turning to God in good times

[08:51] and hard times, not asking God what he

[08:53] will do for us. But as Charlie said,

[08:56] quote, I am far more interested in God

[08:58] in what God wants from me than what I

[09:01] want from God.

[09:03] He said, my prayer is very simple. God,

[09:07] use me for your will.

[09:12] If only 10 of us committed ourselves to

[09:16] continuing Charlie's mission, that alone

[09:19] would be incredible. To be that

[09:21] fertilizer and that water that will help

[09:23] spread this light that is inspired by

[09:26] God's love.

[09:28] But there are far more than 10 of us.

[09:31] There are countless people,

[09:42] countless people around the world

[09:44] speaking different languages, have

[09:46] different backgrounds, different views

[09:48] and opinions

[09:50] who are eager to carry on Charlie's

[09:53] mission to spread this light inspired by

[09:56] God's love which will also expose those

[10:00] who are trying to shut down free speech,

[10:03] trying to silence us through violence,

[10:06] intimidation, and terrorism. It will

[10:08] expose them for who they are and the

[10:11] hollowess and emptiness and weakness of

[10:15] the ideas that they present.

[10:27] So while we will miss Charlie dearly,

[10:32] our hearts should not be broken

[10:35] because we are confident that Charlie is

[10:37] at home with the Lord.

[10:40] Embrace in the loving arms of Jesus

[10:43] Christ to whom he dedicated his life.

[10:48] Those who are full of anger and

[10:50] hopelessness and hate right now, some of

[10:52] them protesting outside this hall today.

[10:57] Unfortunately, they do not have the

[10:59] spiritual happiness that Charlie

[11:02] experienced.

[11:04] They're empty. And this is where their

[11:06] anger is coming from. It is their

[11:08] rejection of God, their desire to be

[11:12] God. And therefore, they have made God

[11:14] their enemy.

[11:18] I have hope today

[11:21] that every one of us will do our best

[11:25] to shine the light of God's love in our

[11:28] lives and in our work. That we will

[11:31] treat each other with aloha respect

[11:35] and stand strong and unshakable in the

[11:38] defense of our God-given rights and

[11:40] freedoms.

[11:42] May God bless you all and may God bless

[11:45] this great nation. Aloha.