Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Ring a bell? How 'bout April 20, 1999? Remember that? Okay, Littleton Colorado? I know that sounds familiar. If not let's try this. Columbine. Yep, that you for damn sure remember. Until 9/11 happened, 4/20/99 was the most shocking and disturbing day, to at least anyone born after D-Day.

I just read that the Sheriff has decided to release the writings of those two lunatics. A some what controversial decision. But I think it's the right call. It's not that I think we should just sit and sulk over days like this, or 9/11. But at the same time, we're so quick to move on to the next tragedy. Maybe it's just the desire or need to forget. By now the memory of watching those kids run from the school, or the one kid being pulled through a window with his bloody foot, are all such fuzzy memories. Feels more like just some TV show I have a vague memory of. And I'm sure Harris and Klebold wanted to be remembered for that day, so revisiting it kind of fulfills their wishes. But fuck them. What about the kids and teachers who gave up their lives that day? We should remember that day for them. And try to understand what happened so we can prevent it again. Beyond seeing the signs of a couple kids wearing black trench coats, or watching That Matrix daily and listening to Marilyn Manson. But noticing when some kids are picked on and pushed around so much that they feel so lost and desperate that they'd do something this heinous.

Not to like toot my own horn but, back in 1999 I had a couple websites that are now basically what we call blogs. And after Columbine, I posted some thoughts on it. And, well I don't wanna say cool. But one of the most impressive things that came from that was I actually had a Columbine survivor read it and post a comment.

http://members.aol.com/jsthirp/greggh.html
Name: Zack
E-mail address: SnowZman77@aol.com
Comments: Hello gregg thanks for the support and i really think your
homepage is cool thanks again! Columbine will live through
all that remember it! DON'T LET THIS REPEAT let this be the
last!!

"Don't let this repeat," he said. Well, I don't know if I did per say. Or anyone I know did. But it has happened again. Maybe not on the same scale, and since no school shooting has been as bloody they haven't garnered the same attention from the media or the rest of us. And how fucked is that? We're still talking about kids bringing guns to school and shooting classmates.

I went and did a little research on the internet on school shootings. And to me one of the most disturbing trends, was the fact it was far from the first. It came pretty soon after the Jonesboro Arkansas shootings, which at the time were a huge shock to everyone. But before either, it was still happening almost frequently. The difference, it used to be in inner city schools and involve "gangs." Which really, is kids going through the same shit only without parents who we think should have had them in some sort of therapy. And I don't want anyone to think I'm just saying it was horrible cause it happened in a school like Columbine, which was so similar to my alma mater Blue Valley Northwest that it was scary for even more reasons. But we need to address that this is a problem that claims students of all economic backgrounds and all colors. And it's an injustice that we just get upset when rich white kids are the killers and the victims.

My research also revealed to me something I either didn't realize of forgot. Columbine came after almost a dozen other school shootings in the US. And does anyone remember that just two days later there were not one, but two separate shootings? And seriously, I lost count of the victims and the number of occurrences of either a shooting or stabbing. But I know it was over 25 deaths and probably over 100 violent acts. From a six year old in Flint Michigan, to college kids.

I don't really even know why I felt compelled to write about this. It's not that I just want myself and everyone else to live in the past. And for the time it took me to write this, I had to think about Columbine. And Harris, and Klebold. And worry about my own nieces and nephews, and the kids in their classes that I don't know.

So I think I'm probably scaring the shit out of my readers(friends) who are parents. Sorry. But, and this is probably really foul to say now. But don't shoot the messenger.