10 years ago today...

The course of history was changed 10 years ago today. On this day in 1999 two misguided youths changed the course of United States history and arguably World history. This is the day that two teenagers walked into Columbine High School and slaughtered students and even a teacher. This single event shocked all of us around the United States and brought us into a new era. This new era (one that I am sure we all wish we could get out of), is the era of school violence involving guns and bombs. Since that fateful April day in Littleton, Colorado there have been 100+ incidents at schools around this nation and even around the world involving gun violence, whether that be students shooting other students or students being taken hostage by other students with guns. WOW!

What is the cause of this sudden outburst of these events? Is it society? Is it video games? Is it the schools? Is it the parents? The answer is yes. Each one of those things has in some way contributed to these horrific events. Society has become more tolerant of violence over the years. The video game industry makes millions and millions of dollars a year on violent video games. Schools dont always pay attention to warning signs exhibited by some of those trouble students. Parents are passing the buck of raising and training their children in the way they should go off onto the schools because they are too busy pursuing their career.

Do I think that if Columbine had not happened that we wouldnt have had these 100+ other events since then? No, because someone else would have done this type of thing and then the others would follow. Violent video games got a horrible slant because these first two that carried out this atrocity liked to play them. The problem wasnt the video game, the problem was that these two were unable to grasp the difference between the fake world of video games and reality of reality. In video games such as Halo and Call of Duty (two games I play) you can shoot someone multiple times and they can keep firing right back at you and if you dont shoot them again their shields regenerate and their health regenerates. That is a huge disconnect from reality. In real life people dont have shields and their health doesnt regenerate unless they make it to the hospital in time and get medical attention for their wounds. Now I know these two that carried out the Columbine shooting knew what they were doing, they were out for the sole purpose of killing folks.

What can we do? What should we do? How can we change this in the future?
The first thing we can do is never forget those students that were killed that day in Colorado. We should daily pray for their families, because even though it has been 10 years, parents should never have to bury their children. These people have been impacted to their core and that is not something that is easily let go of. No matter how hard we try to change/prevent these things from happening in the future, there will always be some folks that chose to use violence as a means of solving their disputes. Does this mean we should not even try? Of course not. We as Americans need to take charge here and work to educate those growing up now that violence in schools is not the answer. I am not a parent but someday I hope to have that blessing, I will most certainly do my best to educate my children in what is right and wrong and not rely on someone else to teach my kids those things.

So as we remember today that fateful day 10 years ago lets never forget Cassie Bernall, Steve Curnow, Corey DePooter, Kelly Flemming, Matt Kechter, Daniel Mauser, Daniel Rohrbough, Rachel Scott, Isaiah Shoels, John Tomlin, Lauren Townsend, Kyle Velasquez, and Coach Dave Sanders. Let us all say a prayer today for their families and for our nation.