I must say, that when I first heard about the shootings in Colorado, I really didn't react with any empathy. I actually kind of got a kick out of it, and sorta giggled my way through the next day of school. That night, I started paying more attention to news reports, and reasons that were being pinned on the shootings just didn't cut it for me. If the media and movies and the Internet were real causes behind this, wouldn't we all be shooting up our high schools?

When something makes no sense to me, I go to lengths to sort them out. I wore a long black trench coat to school 2 days after the murders. I got picked on. I got harassed. I got looked at funny, called names, judged, excluded, and quite blatantly insulted. I found my answers. Bad teachers, parents and principals; poor gun control laws; or even Marilyn Manson were not the cause of these murders. Not everybody has the strength of character to move beyond and deal with ridicule, especially day after day. Dylan Klebold and Mark Harris had a few psychological problems. They could no longer deal with the taunting. It has been reported that a member of the so-called Trench Coat Mafia dropped out of Columbine High School at the beginning of the semester, because he just couldn't take it anymore. Harris and Klebold decided to shoot down those who had shot them down every day of their lives.

When you're a teenager, your world evolves around other teenagers. If you are not treated well by your peers, then you will not function well with them. You will grow to hate. The solution to this problem lies therein...

The Trench Coat Mafia were not bad kids. The remainders of the group stood at the muddy memorials near the high school for days after the murders, putting straw onto the ground, so people would not get crap on their pants. These kids deserve to be treated with the same respect as all the others. The mistakes of 2 people amid 270 million Americans should not put a damper on the reputation of American teenagers. If everybody is treated equally, if all people held a mutual respect for each other's lifestyle, form of expression, and wardrobe, then things like this would not happen.

The mantra of a religion 1.5 billion strong resonates here. Treat others as you would treat yourself.

The Taber incident I think, was a direct result of the media coverage attributed to the Littleton murders. Of course, had this not happened, the 14 year old would have found some other way to lash out, but perhaps it would not have been quite the same.

A student at FHS was suspended for wearing a Trench Coat to school last week. At the largest high school in the industrialized nations, I do think that the administration should have been worrying about things that were a REAL threat to the school. I have heard of false bomb threats at other schools, but I don't really know for sure.

The only lesson people here have learnt, is mostly to avoid and alienate people who look different even more than they already did. Not a good Idea.