I've never been to Jefferson County in Colorado, though one does not have to travel far outside the realm of possibility to understand unspoken law concerning the social outcast. Acne. Ill-will. Social status. Jocks. The subculture of cliques controlling all the action. Parading on Main Street, claiming territorial rights, as if by birth, based on a boyfriend or a designer pair of jeans!
The fateful morning Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold embarked on what may only be termed as the deadliest massacre for an American high school, I readied notes for my next class: Language Arts. We were to read an ancient Chinese tale about a magic cricket who, when making music, kept the evil spirits helplessly at bay. It was just after 11am April 20th, 1999. Little did anyone across the country realize what was about to take place. Regardless of specific demographics, wherever you happened to be at the time, whatever you happened to be doing, who would ever be the same? Students. Parents. Grandparents. Faculty.
Strangers from as many different backgrounds forced to face each other in the dark alley of the night.
Why had this happened?
I had been living up the street from my girlfriend who later agreed to be my wife. Later that evening in April, 1999, it must have been after ten, I sprinted 7 houses down through the vague clouds of darkness with burning tears streaming down. We sat in her bedroom, my head slumped in her lap, wondering just to what depths the human animal would descend...and for what~!
I shook and shuddered like starched linen in a twister, heaving uncontrollably. 24 injured. 15 students dead including a teacher, with millions of other lives forever changed. All in less than an hour! 11:19 am - 12:08 pm.
Now whatever your stance regarding gun control and/or video games, bullying, or medication, lets agree to just one thing: every individual deserves a fair chance in society.
If we ken agree to this we may part as friends.
"Life is a candle before the wind" -Japanese proverb
Thursday, October 1, 2009
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