“Shots fired at Columbine High School.”
Those words reverberated through the Denver Post newsroom nine years ago today. At that moment, there was no way any of us could comprehend what lay ahead. The carnage, the anguish, the endless questions.
Nine years later, we’re still faced with many of the questions even as we’ve helplessly watched the same eerie scenes of violence play out in other serene, often bucolic, locations, such as Bailey and Blacksburg.
School violence didn’t begin at Columbine, but, sadly, what took place there has served as some sort of macabre model to which other disaffected teens are drawn.
We now know the lessons of Columbine won’t always be heeded. Warning signs and red flags will continue to be overlooked, and kids will be shunned by their peers and made to feel like outcasts. And violence, whether it’s embodied in graphic video games or the nightly news, will continue to have a grip on society, no matter how often we’re warned of its effects.
But that doesn’t mean we, as a society, shouldn’t continue to fight. To defend the weak. To protect our children. To strengthen our gun laws if needed. To bolster mental health services.
We must do it not only for today’s children, but for those we lost that day: Cassie Bernall, Steven Curnow, Corey DePooter, Kelly Fleming, Matt Kechter, Daniel Mauser, Daniel Rohrbough, Dave Sanders, Rachel Scott, Isaiah Shoels, John Tomlin, Lauren Townsend and Kyle Velasquez.
