10 years after Columbine
Wow, has it really been ten years already that the Columbine High School shootings happened? Today marks the anniversary of the tragedy, and that means all of Colorado is in mourning.
Ten years ago; I had been living in Aurora, CO only a little over a year at the time, even still Colorado felt like my home. I was at home watching daytime TV when it happened. I still remember those awful images from the news. The boy dangling out the library window desperate for help, the chain of kids trailing out of classrooms only to see one of their classmates shot on the lawn. To be surrounded by SWAT and Police, they must have been so scared. It will forever be burned into my brain, and is still one of the most tragic things I have witnessed in my lifetime.
It’s strange to me that even ten years later, people still do not have the whole story and there are still a lot of myths surrounding the tragedy. One of them is the fact that the two shooters were not members of the “Trench Coat Mafia” which was a nonviolent group of computer gamers from a few years earlier. The boys wore long duster jackets to hide their weapons. They were not “Goth’, they were not worshiping Marilyn Manson, but they were psychopathic and full of rage. They had planned the attack to be a terrorist bombing that would rival Oklahoma City; they had planned on killing at least 500. The timers on their bombs failed to go off so they just began shooting randomly. Another myth was that they had targeted certain people because they were bullied. Both are untrue. They were sick individuals. Scary to think this could happen again at any moment, and anywhere.
Sadly 13 lives were taken in the shootings ten years ago today. The library has been torn down, and in its place a memorial has been dedicated to the victims. Last night a sunset vigil was held at the memorial and hundreds attended. The school will be closed today, in remembrance. A lot has changed, people have forgiven and moved on with their lives. Parents are still mourning the loss of their children. As a Coloradan, I will never forget. Lets pray this never happens again.(¯`v´¯)
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(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•. jenni
Jenni,
I had no idea that you were living there then, too. I was working for The Salvation Army at the time, and had gone home sick that morning. I finished watching a movie I had rented the day before and turned on the TV to watch the news… and those same images greeted me. Not long after that, my boss called and asked me if I felt well enough to join him, with the Emergency Disaster Truck, at the school, to help the police and SWAT team members (we fed them and gave them drinks and blankets, and had some Officers there for counseling). I met him at the school and spent a good portion of the night there. It’s something that I still remember today, just like it happened yesterday. I can’t believe 10 years has gone by, and every time I see the footage, I think of that day, that week, month after as clearly as if it happened just the other day. It was also the first time I felt a part of the community, even though I’d been living in Denver for over a year. I’m still a Coloradan at heart, and I still think of those families every year. So… I just thought I’d share that with you. Thank you for posting something about the anniversary – it was nice to see that someone else thought to remember it and mention it. xo