Ten Years Ago Today...

A lot of you may have forgotten, weren't old enough to remember or maybe just did not really care all too much, but today is the ten year anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings in Jefferson County, Colorado. I do not really know why this has not been a bigger story in the news, maybe it might not be relevant any more, yet I remember that not too long ago on April 16th, 2007, there was another massacre of 32 people on the Virginia Tech University campus. I believe that this subject is not relevant enough. I can’t still remember at age 12, sitting in my classroom at RSM Intermediate School, hearing about the undeserved deaths of 12 innocent people. Although this was just one incident, it sparked conversation about a multitude of different aspects that may or may not fueled the rage that these two students expressed.

I became familiar with the situation after doing research for a play that I was in during high school called "Bang, Bang, You're Dead". A play written for the purpose of exposing the side of evil that had been ignored before the Columbine shootings. A play that I later directed on my college campus, coincidently on the week of the Virginia Tech shootings. I became very involved into the subject and learned more then I have ever cared to, but I am glad that I did.

I had found multiple videos on YouTube (its amazing what you can find on there) as well as watching the movie "Bowling For Columbine" directed by Michael Moore. Everyone seems to have their own opinion on what happened, why and how to fix it. And although this may surprise you, I have no idea and no opinion to any of those questions. All I have is the facts that still make very little sense to me.

Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris (the shooters) were both athletic, intelligent and came from good homes. They had loving parents and siblings, yet there was something missing. What was missing seems like the question that needs to be addressed. Ever since this shooting occurred, everyone has been trying to put the blame on something. Whether that blame is deserved or not, a scapegoat needs to be found so we can "move on". Items that were brought up are violent video games (Doom and Wolfenstein 3D), Marilyn Manson, Goth culture and music, movies such as Natural Born Killers and The Basketball Diaries, even going as far as suing these people and companies that have created these forms of entertainment. However, my question is that I have played, listened to and watched many of these "scapegoats". Does this mean I would have shot 11 of my classmates and 1 teacher? I think not. Another reason this may have happened is the way that Klebold and Harris were both not accepted into certain cliques while in high school. (Which in my opinion, cliques are the biggest problem that we have in our school systems today.) Yes, they were bullied and verbally abused throughout high school, but again I ask does this mean that every bullied kid in high school is going to shoot their classmates?

It all boils down to a certain point that a teacher made to me in high school as I was researching my role in "Bang, Bang, You're Dead". He said "Everyone has the ability to kill. Especially in males, it is human nature to take things to the extreme and lash out uncontrollably. Yet it is how you deal with certain aspects of your life that will determine how you lash out. Obviously, these two students (Klebold and Harris) needed to make a statement and even declared that they 'wanted to make history'. Mission accomplished, wouldn't you say?"

I thought this statement to be very interesting in the way that I believe that under certain circumstances, everyone DOES have the ability to kill, but usually won't. Human nature drives us to either protect our territory, our families, or ourselves. I am not making an excuse or argument for these students in any way, what they did was inexcusable. I just want to make that clear.

Ever since the first sin with Adam and Eve, and then the first murder with Cain and Able, things have spun out of control. Sin has taken over our world and caused innocent deaths since basic creation. Obviously, the shooters were not believers in Christ and sought a new way to live. It is believed that one shooter asked a victim named Rachel Scott if she was a Christian, after getting the response "yes", her life was taken. Over the last ten years I have been asking myself if I would say the same, today I can honestly say that I would. Rachel's father was asked to speak to congress about the shootings during the investigations. He went on to say that after the shooting, our government saw it fit to slowly but surely reduce the role that God has in our classrooms. He rarely mentioned the actual shooters in his statement yet told the members of congress that because of a "ban" of God in our schools; it is causing evil to maneuver its way through the educational hallways of our schools. It was interesting to see a man that had lost his child to a senseless act of violence, call out our "leaders" and tell them that because of the laws they have made to "kick out" God from our schools, have partial blame in the school shootings around our country.

Ten years ago, the worst public premeditated school shooting in the history of our country took place and it seemed to be forgotten by everyone.