Columbine

It's been 10 years since the massacre at Columbine and I can't help but to think, "Damn, it's been 10 years?!" I was a freshmen at crappy Coronado High School in Colorado Springs in gym class when I heard about what happened at Columbine. At the time, I didn't even know where Littleton was nor have I ever heard of Columbine High School. My friend and I just stared blankly at the gym teacher who was rushing off to grab the TV from the Health classroom. Another random thought: my grandma in Korea was watching the news and found out about Columbine before my parents did. She called my mom and started freaking out because at that time, all the newscast said was "Shooting at a Colorado suburban highschool" and my grandma immediately thought of me.

Anyway, it was the aftermath of Columbine that really got to me. We had to watch the news in gym class, which was fine as I hated that class anyway, but what bothered me was all the people who started spouting off on goth kids, weirdos, and generally bursting into tears. Yeah, it was tragic but I didn't know those people so why should I cry about them? I suppose everyone reacts differently but to me it seemed disrespectful to those who lost their lives to have kids in Colorado Springs use that to their advantage so they can go home early because they were "too affected by the trauma."

We had a ton of random goth kids dragged off to the principal's office over the week for questioning. Then, some assholes from Manitou Springs drove into our parking lot setting off firecrackers screaming, "You're next Coronado!" because our highschool had the same initials as Columbine when school got let out for the day. Seriously, what sick, twisted little fucks.

I remember every "popular" kid started making attempts to be nicer to everyone else, saying things like, "Oh god, I'm so sorry, I can't believe I was so immature. The recent events made me look at myself to really change for the better" and more bullshit like that only to go back to making fun of people less than a week after the tragedy. I guess that's my main point: yeah, it was terrible, horrific, and a tragedy but to those who weren't directly affected by it, it doesn't really matter. We move on. We make promises that we'll be more curteous, respectful, nice, whatever, only to go back to the same person we were before the tragedy. When I told people that I'm from Colorado, for a few years everyone asked, "Oh, goodness, did you know anyone from Columbine?" or similar questions relating to Columbine. Honestly, I wanted to answer, "No, Colorado is a huge state with thousands of highschools. No, I didn't know anyone from Columbine. I didn't even know Columbine existed prior to the massacre."

It has to be weird for the kids who've graduated from that high school. To think that they will forever be known as the kids who attended Columbine when that happened, to be forever reminded of the tragedy. I think it's hard enough trying to move on from small, personal events but when something is that televised, how are they ever going to truly move on? Now that it's been 10 years, every new station in the country is mentioning this and trying to interview people. I would want to move on and not have to be constantly reminded that I was part of a horrific event in history. I think the media and people in general need to draw the line between remembering, and televising for media's sake.

I don't know how to really feel. 4/20 is like any other day. I don't smoke weed but I know millions of kids across America will think of 4/20 as National Pot Smokers Day or whatever instead of Columbine. And why not? Columbine wasn't important or pivotal to them.