Columbine-- Ten Years Later

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. On April 20, 1999, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 13 classmates and then turned their guns on themselves. A decade later, new information is coming out that could change the way the public views this tragic murder/suicide. For example, a new book, A Tragedy Reconsidered: Columbine, has recently been published. In it, author Dave Cullen argues that the idea of Harris and Klebold being Goth outcasts and members of a so-called "Trenchcoat Mafia" is a complete misconception. Cullen goes on to explain that the two boys were smart and-- surprise!-- popular and not bullied by jocks, as the media has led the public to believe. According to Cullen, who bases his argument on videos, journals, 25,000 pages of evidence, and interviews with families of victims and the perpetrators, Harris and Klebold were a little "weird" but basically well liked by peers. Cullen's main thesis is that Harris was a psychopath (most likely an inborn, not environmentally manufactured, mental illness). Harris was filled with rage and wanted to annihilate the human race. Klebold was a depressed, suicidal tagalong, plagued by romantic problems. Cullen also claims that police fumbled the case, which led to the media's spin of the massacre that the public has come to accept as the truth. I remember where I was when I heard about the Columbine shooting. I was getting ready for my creative writing class at Olney Central College and was watching the evening news. I became intensely tuned in, since I have relatives who live in the Denver area. I must admit that I automatically believed everything I heard about this heinous act, but I now view it through very different (read: more mature) eyes. I guess the moral of the story is that just because someone seems to fit into a certain arbitrary, ascribed category, he or she might have some serious issues. The mainstream media seems to think that people don't want to accept that a "popular" kid could be capable of "pulling a Columbine." Wrong! Bottom line: Violence is not the answer. Popular people can have problems, too.