All right, well I finally decided to start my blog today. Coincidentally, today is a tragic day. For those of you that don’t know, there was a shooting very similar to that of Columbine in 1999. That’s where the title for this blog came from. When we think about it, we always say how merciless and evil the shooters are…but when we think about it, no violence is random. The shooter or shooters, it isn’t confirmed yet, of the Dawson trajedy today probably we’re outcasts, had been ridiculised, bullied, humiliated, etc. Alright, the bullying circle may make you laugh but it’s still true. Here are some excerpts from the Columbine shooting entry on Wikipedia that made me think, that showed that these killers, although demented, had reasons to do it, and were humans that were pushed over their limit.

“Many argued that the pair’s isolation from the rest of their classmates prompted feelings of helplessness, insecurity and depression, as well as a strong desire for attention.”

“The recording shows Harris attempting to detonate one of the failed propane bombs, without success; he then took a sip from one of the drinks left behind by fleeing students.”

I don’t know, just reading that last one made me think a lot. This man has just shot 40 people. Yet he takes his time, stops, and takes a sip of juice. This is just truly sad.

Other quotes talk about medication, video games and movies with too much violence, etc. But I really think that these people were not born with a problem. Anyways, thats Columbine. (I actually went on another website and one of the Columbine shooters was actually a psychopath, he had no sense of empathy. He couldn’t have been saved.)

So, back to Dawson. First, let’s take a look at what seems to be the suspect. Tall, thin, mohawk, trench coat, .22 pistol. This description right there can tell a lot. People with mohawks and trench coats usually fall into social minorities. So that might have been a source of bullying for him, etc.

The people he killed? All random apparently, boys, girls, whites, blacks, students, teachers. So what was his reason for killing random people? What was his reason (this is just what I heard on the news) for not stopping shooting at people when the police arrived? Too much GTA and too much drugs? I don’t think so. I may not be a psychologist but I think this guy had mental issues, was pushed over his limit by some people at his school and decided to die, bringing down as many people as he could with him. Now that’s tragic. Let’s try a little bit of empathy here (I mean empathy as putting yourself in the shooter’s skin). Imagine you’ve always had a little problem with the anger management. You easily get angry and have little patience. Ever since elementary school, people have made fun of you (I’m not saying this is the case of the killer, but just try to imagine it). So you make it through high school, and you go to CEGEP. Then, something happens that really pisses you off. You get beat up one day, or people egg you, or something. So you go home, and the more you think about it, the more you get angry. Remember, you have anger management problems. You start plotting revenge. Buy a gun, some ammo, and get ready to kill people. In less then a week, you’re ready to do it. By now, your rage is so incontrolable that you just want to kill them, although you maybe can’t remember who they are. So you still go to school, and at lunch, with everybody around you, you start killing. You feel no empathy towards the people you’re shooting, although they may have never even talked to you in your life. So you’re running through the halls, shooting teachers and students. You see a cop. No problem, today’s your day to die anyways. So you don’t stop running. Keep on shooting. Just keep on running. You get hit from the back…you’re dying…

Alright maybe that sounded a little bit like fiction or surreal but think about it, really put yourself in that situation. Read the Columbine article. Then it all makes sense. It’s really a tragedy, not only for the people who are shot but also for the murderer, his family and friends.

So are there any solutions to this? Is banning violent games and movies going to end this? I seriously think it would. But it’s never going to happen. So the only solution left is prevention, and I think that it’s working its way, slowly. Let’s take the example of Selwyn. If they pound the bullying circle in their heads starting in Kindergarden, they might never forget it. They might not bully. (I am truly skeptic about that though because there’s always been human nature and the “pecking order”). Maybe help will be more available in the future. But right now people that need help aren’t getting it. Or maybe it’s not that they need help, but they just need a little bit of love. It won’t cost you more to be friendly with someone you meet sometimes than to be mean to them.

Alright well I feel like my flow of ideas is slowly coming to a stop, so I’m gonna stop here and maybe continue later, I think I might rent Bowling for Columbine and write a little more about that. I hope you enjoyed my first post.

-LG-