CW: everything that's happened in the last day and a half. I don't have the brain capacity to tell you exactly what all this is, but just be advised, this isn't a post for the faint of heart.

Hi there... so... this is a kinda weird post, but I need to get some thoughts out... I've had a lot of emotions running high for the last day and a half... wanna know why? I was within a ten minute drive of the university at which Charlie Kirk was shot. In fact, I used to go to that university, from 2021-2023. I even had some friends who were on campus at the time, and at least one who watched it happen.

This post is not going to contain much of any political discussion at all. This is just me needing to put it out there, because having even as small a platform as I have... I dunno, I just feel a need to say something. Not that anyone cares what a dumbass like me has to say, but when a tragic event like this happens within a five mile radius of you, it's kind of hard to not have some thoughts about it. These are just some personal thoughts I haven't had many places to share them at.

I'll place this here too, please don't DM me about this, especially to ask questions about it. For absolute clarity, I was NOT on campus when it happened, the stories I've heard are not mine to share, and I would really rather just move forward back to light-hearted music stuff instead of dwell on my extremely tangential association to an assassination. I have enough stress in my life now as it is; I don't want to be talking to random strangers about such an event. Respect my privacy first and foremost, but above all else, remember that people are people no matter who they are. No difference in politics is EVER enough to kill someone else over.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone else bring this up; it's very easy to get desensitised to tragedy. I've been guilty of it for the last who knows how long. However, it becomes more real when it happens so close to home. You suddenly realise that this isn't something that just happens to "other people"--this is something that, unfortunately could happen to anyone at any time when you least expect it. And I just have a hard time finding what the benefit of this was. There's no legitimate reason to take someone else's life; this doesn't help further an agenda, it does quite the opposite actually.

The last thing the U.S. needs right now is a reason to be more divided, and I can already tell that this is going to do exactly that. Tensions will be high for a very long time to come, and I don't foresee them being eased for potential years. All this for what? A disagreement? No one deserves what happened to Charlie Kirk, no matter how much you disagree with them! We could avoid this if people would just man the fuck up and fucking TALK to each other!

Okay, I got some thoughts out. I... probably do have more I want to say, but I'm still actually in shock. It's amazing what proximity to an event like this does to you, actually; it's kind of weird. Anyway, again please don't DM me about this; comments are off for a reason, I don't want to talk to people about what happened yesterday yet.