The Columbine High School Massacre

The victims killed in the shooting. Top from left: Cassie Bernall, Steven Curnow, Corey DePooter, Kelly Fleming, Matthew Kechter, Daniel Mauser. Bottom from left: Daniel Rohrbough, William Sanders, Rachel Scott, Isaiah Shoels, John Tomlin, Lauren Townsend, Kyle Velasquez.

While the police investigation into the shooting at Columbine High School has done much to reveal the events of Tuesday, April 20,1999 the question as to why is still very much a mystery.

How do two seemingly normal teenagers become mass murderers? Why is school violence on the increase and what can we do to stop it?  How can we protect our children from such atrocities occurring again?

These questions have ignited much public and private debate.  Anti-gun lobbyists believe that if guns were not so readily available our children would not be at risk.  On the other hand, pro-gun supporters argue that it is people, not guns, who kill.  Others believe that violence in the media is poisoning our children's minds, but isn't the media content a reflection of the public's demands?  All sides of the debate have some degree of validity, yet none offer a complete answer.  Are there much deeper issues involved?

Perhaps our fascination for violence, whether as a participant or spectator, stems from our basic need for control, a need which, when unfulfilled, drives us to exert power over others, the most extreme expression of this is taking the life of another.

You do not have to look too far back in history to see the pattern.  Every nation that has lusted for power has won it with violence, and in time, turned that violence in upon itself, ultimately ending in its own destruction.  As we finish another millennium we can see that not much has changed except in the form in which it is expressed.

Perhaps in time, if we search deeply enough, we will find the answers.  In the meantime, we continue to mourn for those who are cut down at the hands of others, knowing only that it shouldn't happen.