Letter: Use of names in Columbine column could mislead others into repeating actions:
This is a letter to the paper of Kansas State University. I don’t know the original article the author is referring to, but it seems like it had something to do with the Columbine anniversary last week. Anyway, this is a person after my own heart…
Editor,
I was appalled at Thursday’s column on the shooting at Columbine High School. The apparent lack of respect displayed by the article was very upsetting for me.
The author states that these individuals were not monsters; only their acts were monstrous. The minute these young men brought guns into a school and started shooting, they became monsters.
Another misstep by the author was the inclusion of their names. The names have been enshrined on Websites by other misguided youths, and have given them people to rally behind. The acts of those two individuals should never be forgotten, but their names should drift into obscurity.
I attended a school that was a middle-class, white suburban school just like Columbine, located on the opposite side of Denver.
My school was hit very hard by the reality of what happened, and how it easily could have been us. I did see the memorial that was set up shortly after the shooting and have never been anywhere so quiet, and yet the expressions of the people said so much.
On April 20, 1999, our schools felt less safe, and a community was trying to find answers as to why kids were killing other kids. A discussion of the reasons why two kids turned into monsters should be held. The discussion should never not include the great pain a community felt and the terror the students and faculty felt.
Chris Rude
Graduate Student
Animal Sciences and Industry
I do disagree on one point. The names of Harris and Klebold, scumbags that they are, should be remembered. If you forget the names of history’s monsters, it will only be a matter of time before their crimes against humanity are forgotten too.
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