1999 – 2019.
I have often talked about the world being divided up into pre-Columbine and post-Columbine. There is a before and an after to this event that speaks of the impact it has had on our culture, our media, and our society as a whole. It is hard to separate its effects from the goings-on today and even more difficult to ignore the fact that Columbine has formed a blueprint for other mass shootings. Columbine has become entangled with the narrative that surrounds these shootings to the point where we can possibly no longer imagine what our society would look like if this one event had never come to pass.
It is fair to say that, twenty years ago today, our world changed. It took less than an hour for everything to tilt and shift and descend into chaos. It took less than a day to confirm that fifteen people lost their lives and countless others were left forever changed, newly traumatised, by this event.
It has taken us twenty years of discussions, debates, protests, laws, books, news articles, and countless other things to try and understand why — and attempt to change the future with this understanding. We’re not out of the woods yet. There is still so much work left to do.
Today is not the time to talk about what needs to be done. It is not the time to talk about details of what happened when and why, of motives and ideologies, of changes and traditions. We have had twenty years for that. We will have many more years just like this.
Today, it is simply time to remember. We need to remember that fifteen people have not known these last twenty years. We need to remember that fifteen people will never see our tomorrows.
Remember Columbine.
Embrace the hopes and dreams of Rachel, Daniel R, Kyle, Cassie, Daniel M, Corey, Dave, John, Kelly, Lauren, Isaiah, Steven, and Matt. Let their presence be the guiding hands within our future, so that we may keep their spirits alive inside all of us for the betterment of our world.
Listen and open our hearts to Eric and Dylan. Let their presence be something that inspires us to reach out to those who find themselves locked in pain and whose hurt urges them to lash out at the world around them. May we be capable of being the light that reaches even the darkest of places, so that we may give hope and strength to those who have none.
We will not forget.
We will remember.
Columbine 