Behind fence was more garden
April 20th, 2005 by JoshHistory is full of those era-defining moments when everyone stops what they’re doing, turns to their radio, television, or computer, and simply watches with awe and terror. For my parents generation it was the 1963 shooting of John F. Kennedy or the killings of Dr. King and RFK. For those of us too young to remember those dates it is generally 9/11. As horrific as that day was, however, for me the events of 6 years ago today are in many ways more vivid.
On September 11, 2001 I was a college student slumbering away when the towers fell. But on April 20, 1999 I was a high school senior finishing up thirteen long years of schooling and eagerly anticipating the future. I vividly remember going to a friend’s house (any LM alums remember if that was a half day?) and sitting on their porch to enjoy the day only to flip on the television and see the news coverage of the shooting at Columbine High School. More so than the towers falling, the image of the young man hanging from the broken windowframe and falling out to the swat team below is permanently ingrained in me. Every year when 4/20 rolls around, there are many things that I think about. But Columbine will always be right at the forefront.
Happy Holidays all. Let’s Go Sixers!!
April 21st, 2005 at 9:09 am
It feels like Columbine was the beginning of a lot of things to come: anger, terror, murder, destruction. Of course these types of things happened before Columbine, but that was the first time, at least for me, that I was just completely consumed with that type of horror.
And the sadness still is there. I was watching Bowling for Columbine the other day and as upsetting as the entire movie is- the part that really gets me is when Moore and the security consultant are standing in the driveway and the guy breaks down and starts crying talking about the shooting.
It’s so raw and such unfathomable terror.