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When I think of a successful person, the first person I think of is the late Charlie Kirk. I was stunned when I heard about his assassination. It happened during one of his events at Utah Valley University on September 10 of this year.
Charlie Kirk was a month away from his thirty second birthday when he was gunned down. Although he was very young he accomplished more in his short life than many of us, including me, will ever achieve.
Some of Charlie’s greatest accomplishments:
Started a non-profit organization named Turning Point USA in 2012 when he was only 18 years old
Was the author of a book “The College Scam”
Was the host of his own radio show
Was the speaker at the Republican National Convention 2020 and 2024
Was a proud follower of Jesus and talked with many young people regarding faith and family
Met with many world leaders
Those are just a few of the reasons I think that Charlie Kirk was an extremely successful person. It was Charlie’s faith that I most admired. His commitment to his faith, family and our country were a joy to hear. He traveled around the USA promoting freedom of speech, Christian values, and conservative values. He chose to debate and listen to other points of view. I have watched many of his videos of him challenging college students. He was always kind and showed so much common sense, which is so rare today.
I think Charlie was so successful in his life due mainly to his unfaltering faith in Christ. He was also very successful in his relationships. He had a beautiful, loving wife and two children.
I saw people mourning this young man all over the USA and countries overseas. You had to know this was a very special man who had touched millions of lives including mine even though I never met him. Charlie has been called to heaven, but now it’s up to us to carry on his faith and values.
Daily writing prompt
When you think of the word “successful,” who’s the first person that comes to mind and why?
First and most important, I should be paying a lot more attention to my relationship with God. I am working on that but it’s so hard. It would be easier if I had a good church I belonged to. I am not criticizing any church, but I am not comfortable in many new churches. I tried one with a friend but I didn’t find peace there. The music was like going to a concert. I prefer the old hymns, pianos and organ music. And many churches are going that way with the modern Christian music. I simply don’t find peace or Christ in that music. I am glad that so many are going to these newer churches but it’s not for me.
The second area I need to be paying more attention to is my health. This includes eating better and exercising more. I love sweets and don’t care much for vegetables. I do eat a healthy amount of fruit. Being a single person, it’s hard to cook proper meals for just one person. I should also be spending more time either going to the gym or walking. Alternatively, I could follow a good exercise program at home.
Another area that needs attention in my life would be my family and friends. Lately I seem to be spending the majority of my time sitting at my computer. But writing is also a part of my life. To become a decent writer requires writing every day. It takes dedication to research and work on my writing projects.
If only I were a more organized person. I would have the ability to manage to pay more attention to my faith, health and writing.
Daily writing prompt
What details of your life could you pay more attention to?
Dorothy Day was born as one of five children to John and Grace Day in Brooklyn, New York on November 8,1897. Her father was a sports writer and later became a sports editor. A few years after Dorothy’s birth he moved the family to San Francisco, California to take a better job. The Days family lived in California until the Great Earthquake in 1906 which destroyed her father’s place of employment. Before they left California Dorothy and her mother tried to help those who had been left homeless from the earthquake. This probably influenced Dorothy in such a way that years later it became her life’s work to help others in need.
The Day family then moved to Chicago, Illinois and lived in one of the poorer sections of Chicago until her Father found work that allowed him to move his family to a better neighborhood. Dorothy never seemed to forget what it was like to be poor and perhaps that is what led her to make the choice of helping the poor and less fortunate.
College Years
While still living in Chicago Dorothy won a scholarship which allowed her to go to The University of Illinois and she attended there for two years from 1914 until 1916. Dorothy loved reading and learning and she especially enjoyed reading the works of Dickens and Poe as well as others. It was at the university that her journalistic career began when she went to work for a small local paper. The friends she chose while in college were generally socialists who influenced her to join the Socialist Party. With her friends she became involved with radical causes concerning poor working people.
Life as aNew York Reporter
Two years later, she gave up her studies at the university and moved to New York. She was just eighteen years old at the time. Here she found her first real job as a reporter working for the New York Call where she worked for a few months before leaving The Call to work for The Masses. As a reporter she covered labor meetings, protests and riots as well as other social causes. Here in New York, she made friends with other journalists, liberals, socialists, labor collaborators and communist that she met through her work. During this time, Dorothy was like most young women, enjoying life, her first relationships with men and love. She also became pregnant during this time period and she chose to have an abortion rather than raise the child
Occoquan Prison:The Night of Terror
While working as a reporter for The Masses, Dorothy traveled to Washington, DC to join with a women’s suffrage protest organized by Alice Paul, Lucy Burns and The National Women’s Party. As a result, Dorothy and several of the other women were arrested and spent several weeks in jail. Dorothy asked for and was given a Bible which she took much comfort from. After being arrested and sentenced to thirty days in jail, Dorothy and the other women went on a hunger strike which drew the attention of President Woodrow Wilson who ordered the women to be released from jail. Later these women dubbed their time in the Occoquan Prison as “The Night of Terror”.
Love and Heartbreak
n 1918, Dorothy thought it was time to look for a possible new career and tried nursing by enrolling at Kings County Hospital in New York. It was while she was in nurse’s training that she met and fell in love with a fellow newspaper associate, Lionel Moise. She became pregnant with his baby which he insisted that she abort, so in an attempt to keep the man she thought she loved she had the abortion. She was only 21 at the time. Dorothy often stated how deeply she regretted making that decision because within a short period of time Lionel had walked out and left her anyway.
After Lionel walked out Dorothy was heartbroken and she married Berkely Tobey on the rebound. The two of them traveled for some time together but the marriage was a brief one and ended in divorce shortly afterwards. After divorcing Berkely Tobey, Dorothy entered into a relationship with Forster Batterham for several years and became pregnant for the second time. To Dorothy, this was a miracle because she had believed that she could not have children after having the abortion. She gave birth to a daughter she named Tamar Theresa on March 4,1926. This was the beginning of the end of her relationship with Forster who had not wanted either marriage or children and soon after the two went their separate ways.
The Beginning of a Lifetime of Serving God
Between 1932 and 1933, Dorothy met Peter Maurin an illegal immigrant who was also a scholar with leanings toward the catholic faith. On May 1,1933 the two of them published their first issue of The Catholic Worker and began focusing on their mission of promoting Biblical teachings, morals, mercy and justice, which was also committed to forming a nonviolence peaceful society. Together these two would work for social change, better working conditions for workers and help and comfort for the poor.
Achievements of Dorothy and Peter
Started the newspaper (The Catholic Worker
Opened the first House of Hospitality in 1933
Started farming communes for people in need who could live on the commune and help to raise food and animals to meet their needs
Peter Maurin, Dorothy’s close friend and co-founder of the Catholic Worker’s Movement
Books Written by Dorothy Day
The Eleventh Virgin
From Union Square to Rome
House of Hospitality
On Pilgrimage
The Long Loneliness
Selected Writings
Loaves and Fishes
The Reckless Way of Love (notes on following Jesus)
The Duty of Delight
All the way to Heaven
Peter Maurin Apostle to the World
Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker
Meditations
In My Own Words
This is a short list of the books that Dorothy Day wrote. She also wrote over three hundred articles for various newspapers that she worked for over her lifetime. Many of her books are books of faith and stories of how she spent her lifetime and her faith in service to others.
Dorothy Day Honors and Achievements
Dorothy achieved so much that it is hard to comprehend everything this woman did but this is a short list of some of the most memorable events of her life.
Dorothy had the honor of meeting Mother Teresa in 1970. It’s believed that Mother Theresa gave Dorothy one of her crosses
Received Communion with the Pope 1967
Received birthday wishes from the Pope on her 80th birthday in 1977
University of Notre Dame honored her with the Laetare Medal which is given for outstanding service to the Catholic church and society
Dorothy had a long and deep impact on the Catholic church
This is only a few of the achievements and honors that Dorothy received during her lifetime.
In Conclusion
Dorothy Day was a determined and courageous woman who found her faith and her strength in the Catholic Church. Upon finding her faith, she worked hard and tirelessly for the poor. She gave more of herself than most of us are capable of. She was jailed several times in her efforts to help women fight for their rights in addition to other causes that she felt strongly about. She spent most of her adult life serving her God, her church and her fellow human beings. Let us all strive a bit harder to be more like Dorothy Day and make the world a better place. A world more like Dorothy Day’s vision of caring and loving our fellow human beings.
History Lovers Corner 