Let us never forget

[Live365]

April 20th, 1999.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaSKE3ah2kU

[Corvid]

Tough to watch but this tragedy must be remembered.

[joequinn]

This tragedy cannot be remembered, properly, unless and until it has been explained. And what happened at Columbine is every bit as mysterious as what happened in Oklahoma City (before it) or on 9/11 (after it).

I keep saying it and saying it and saying it, but we don't know a damn thing --- a single damn thing --- about the world that we Americans have occupied for the past two-thirds of a century. We have no idea, no idea whatsoever, of what has been happening in our country over the past sixty years or so. None...

[Corvid]

Both events and many (too many) others are but the symptoms of a toxic "culture".

That much we know.

[SETIsLady]

Many things to remember this month.....

[Live365]

I remember in the first few days after, someone put two small crosses for Eric and Dylan next to the crosses for the thirteen victims. The families went nuts -- perhaps justifiably so at the time -- and they were taken down. But all these years later, I can't look into the faces of those two boys and not see them as victims of something. I'm not here to say what, but something. I agree with you both. The ever increasing toxicity of our culture, but also forces at play that we cannot understand.

I say this every year, and maybe it doesn't mean anything. But I will also never forget Eric writing somewhere (documented in Moore's "Bowling for Columbine") that if they made it out of the school alive, they would hijack an airplane and crash it into a skyscraper in New York City. Forces at play.

[Live365]

Yes, SL. Fifteen years ago today a Ryder truck was left parked outside of a federal buidling in Oklahoma City.

Tough anniversaries. Should also commemorate Waco, though my feelings are still conflicted on that.

[racehorse]

April 20th, 1999.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaSKE3ah2kU

[Joolz]

I can't watch the video. The images are already ingrained in my memory, so there's really no need for me to view it. This was especially difficult for my daughter, and still is. This was her generation. She graduated high school that year, and it affected her deeply -- for that reason, and more.

I won't give details, because it happened to her, not me, but she had a dream premonition of the Columbine tragedy (she sometimes has prophetic dreams -- it runs in the family on my side). It was one of those sorts of premonitions that is difficult to decipher until after it happens. It really wasn't until a few days later that she realized what the dream had been about. I remember waking at about 3am to find her standing next to my bed sobbing because she had figured out what the dream meant. It haunts her still.

I also remember looking over at her as we sat in the theater later watching 'Bowling for Columbine.' Her face was wet with tears again. I remember taking her hand and holding it gently as she wept beside me.

So, yes, this is a difficult memory for me, and my heart is with you all, but I can't bring myself to watch the video. I will never ever forget it, though.

[Joolz]

I remember in the first few days after, someone put two small crosses for Eric and Dylan next to the crosses for the thirteen victims. The families went nuts -- perhaps justifiably so at the time -- and they were taken down. But all these years later, I can't look into the faces of those two boys and not see them as victims of something. I'm not here to say what, but something. I agree with you both. The ever increasing toxicity of our culture, but also forces at play that we cannot understand.

I say this every year, and maybe it doesn't mean anything. But I will also never forget Eric writing somewhere (documented in Moore's "Bowling for Columbine") that if they made it out of the school alive, they would hijack an airplane and crash it into a skyscraper in New York City. Forces at play.

I agree. They were ALL victims. This I know. The dream I mentioned above tells me so. I can't and won't explain how, but I believe it to be so. My heart grieves for them all.

[Live365]

Joolz, if you or your daughter are ever ready one day, I would like to hear about that dream. But I understand your need to hold it close. We do forget, what it must have been like for them. For us, it was "oh my God, what's happening to the world", but for the kids, it was each other. It was their generation. They were the ones who had to go to school the next day, they were the ones that saw a week later metal detectors go up at the front doors. Their world changed over night.

The video does have gripping images, but it also includes extended footage of what was going on in the cafeteria. Which a lot of people don't need to see again. For me, and please stop reading here if you can't be reminded just now, the most indelible of them all was kids running out of the school with their hands in the air, so the police would know who to shoot and who not to. Up until then, things like that only happened in places like Cambodia. It feels like it was yesterday.