I think my friend Jake says it better, but I’ll say a few words first. When the Columbine school shooting happened, I was a senior at Millikin. It was a million miles away, until a month later at TKE a student pulled a gun out at a house meeting. It was to get the right to talk. Nobody was hurt, maybe it was just a bee bee gun, I don’t remember.
Then I moved to Durango, Colorado. One RA was a Columbine graduate and many of our freshmen were “those” students. They had been there. At Freshman orientation, the Columbine families stood up and said “We like Littleton because it is safe and we think Durango will be safe for our children.” In spite of the tragedy that they had survived, they still thought Littleton was safe.
Eventually, we saw how it affected our students. They stopped their own fights and stood up to each other and for each other. Eventually my RA took me to Littleton and showed me her Alma Mater, Columbine High School. Eventually, I left Colorado and moved to Chicago and saw Bowling for Columbine. I was reduced to tears for the first time about Columbine as I watched the peiced together security tapes with 911 calls. I knew those students, they became my students and my friends.
Here is what Jake said: http://angryamerican.blogspot.com
Comments