Columbine

While visiting my old high school, one of my favorite teachers told me about a book I should read. I had just told him about my last journalism assignment, which was investigating stories that the media handled wrong. My teacher told me about Dave Cullen's Columbine. Columbine, is about exactly what one would presume: the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999. There are few people in the United States that do not know about Columbine, especially in light of the recent school shooting, but few people actually know the true story. Cullen is the nation's foremost authority on Columbine and the primary objective of his narrative is to debunk the falsehoods fueled by the media. 
The first and most widely known misconception about the shooting was that the two killers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, were seeking revenge against the jock population at the high school for years of bullying. The truth is the boys' true intentions were to blow up the whole school, randomly killing as many people as possible. Eric, the mastermind of the plan, wanted to rival the death tolls at the, then recent, Oklahoma City Bombing, a fifty-one day standoff turned massacre at Branch Davidian compound in Waco Texas. 
Both boys suffered from a god-complex brand of superiority, and depression. It was their goal to rid the world of stupid, stuck up, inferior people through their own form of natural selection. The most striking thing about the boys is despite their previous encounters with the law, no one put the pieces together in time to stop the massacre. The only reason the death toll was not higher was because the bombs meant to blow in the cafeteria malfunctioned and never went off. When the two boys realized that they immediately dropped the rest of the plan and went on a shooting rampage. To see their "mission" fulfilled, the boys sacrificed their lives. In his attempt to uncover the true motive and personalities of Eric and Dylan, Cullen writes of FBI agent and psychiatrist, Dwayne Fuselier's journey into the lives of Eric and Dylan, including interviews of friends and family, journals and the well kept secret of the "Basement Tapes" -- the videos that Eric and Dylan left that mapped out their plan and motive. 
There was another media misconception regarding the martyrdom of Cassie Bernall. Years ago, I read the book She Said Yes: The Unlikely Martyrdom of Cassie Bernall. I learned how, in the face of death, she told Eric that she believed in God, securing her fate. I was shocked to read today that the story is not true. Most of She Said Yes is about Cassie's battle and victory with her own demons, but it was not Cassie who told Eric she believed in God that day in the library. It was actually Valeen Schnurr. The account is as follows: Valeen Schnurr was shot multiple times. She dropped to her knees pleading for God to save her. Upon hearing her plead, Dylan turned around and asked her if she believed in God. She answered yes. Before Dylan could shoot her, he became distracted and walked off, leaving Valeen alive. 
The discrepancies between the two stories, of course, are the results of post traumatic stress, but instead of researching the accounts more thoroughly, the media took the story of Cassie and ran. Emily Wyant, who watched as Eric shot Cassie, told police that Cassie had no time to speak, nor did Eric. There were accounts like Emily's stating that Cassie was not the one who said yes, but there were also accounts from other students of just the opposite. One of these accounts was from Craig Scott. Craig believed that Cassie had said yes, but when he was brought into the library, police told him that Cassie was not found in the spot he believed she had been. Craig believed his story whole heartedly. Learning the truth proved to be too much for Craig, who fell sick as a result and had to leave the library. 
Cullen investigates all aspects of the Columbine massacre, and subsequently revealed more misconceptions America was fed during the days after the tragedy. Stories of Dave Sanders, a teacher who sacrificed his life alerting students to the tragedy despite being shot, stories of Patrick Ireland, who the media deemed "The boy in the window," and stories of countless others bring to life the truth of what happened at Columbine. 
Patrick Ireland's story touched me the most because of his sheer drive to live. After being left in the library to die from a shot in the head that disconnected communication from his brain and body, Patrick proceeded to move his half paralyzed body to the window. SWAT was able to get to Patrick before he pushed himself out of the second story window and he was immediately taken to the hospital. If that wasn't terrifying enough, Patrick spent a week in the ICU unaware of the extent of his injuries or the tragedy. All Patrick wanted to do was continue his life and complete his goals.
Though he speaks of his disappointment of media portrayal of the tragedy, Cullen commends The Rocking Mountain News and its ethical journalism. I could continue on to tell about the whole book, but this is definitely a book everyone needs to read. I urge those who remember Columbine and even those who do not to pick up Cullen's book, you will not be sorry. Columbine was more than a news headline, it was a tragedy that shook a little town in Colorado. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were not only ruthless killers, they were teenagers that did not receive the help they needed. Columbine will not only help you understand the killers, learn about faulty journalism and hear the stories of the victims, but it will also cause you to think about what needs to be done in the criminal justice system and mental health system to prevent mass shootings like Columbine. 
Here are the two quotes Cullen opens his narrative with for you to ponder... 
"I am a wicked man... But do you know, gentlemen, what was the main point of my wickedness? The whole thing, precisely was, the greatest nastiness precisely lay in my being shamefully conscious every moment, even in moments of the greatest bile, that I was not only a wicked man but was even an embittered man, that I was simply frightening sparrow in vain and pleasing myself with it." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from the Underground
"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places." - Ernest Hemmingway, A Farewell to Arms