So you think you know what happened at Columbine?

Anyone who was alive in America on April 20, 1999 knows how Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 12 students, a teacher, wounded 23 others, and then killed themselves. We've all heard the story of the girl who --- seconds before she was shot --- looked the killers in the eye and told them she believed in God. We've heard about the "Trench Coat Mafia" and the violent video games. And we've heard that Harris and Klebold were social outcasts who, angered by continual bullying, decided to get even by staging the biggest massacre ever at an American high school.

You will be shocked to learn that most of what you've heard is wrong. If David Cullen is even slightly correct, Cassie Bernall was not killed because she said yes (Turns out it was another girl), Harris and Klebold weren't outcasts or bullied,(in fact the two of them did more bullying to others than what was done to them). They weren’t targeting jocks or Christians (anyone and everyone was fair game), and they most certainly weren’t “addicted” to violent video games (They enjoyed playing them). Truth be told, "Columbine" presents a much more terrifying story than the one you know.

David Cullen’s “Columbine” let’s us into the lives of Harris and Klebold and what motivated them to kill. For Eric Harris it was raw hatred, a desire to kill as many people as possible-to end the world if he could. For Dylan Klebold, it was the hunger for love. And when he couldn’t find it, an all-consuming desire for death.

We come to know a side of these boys that was never portrayed in the media. Dylan was a secret drunk who was deeply depressed, while Eric, seemingly obedient, was really a psychotic control freak with a messianic-level superiority complex.

But why should we take Cullen’s word for what happened against the media’s and what was widely reported in the first 10 days after the shootings? Cullen was one of the first reporters to arrive on the scene that fateful Tuesday, April 20th 1999. At first he fell for most of the false conclusions, but after investigating the teen killers for 10 years he came to realize that what happened wasn’t because of bullying, Hitler, violent video games, or Marilyn Manson instead it was the pure unadulterated hatred of one rage filled teenager and his bewildered disheartened sidekick.
If indeed this is the case, and there was no motive apart from hatred and rage, then the nationwide reaction to the Columbine massacre has given us no reason to feel secure --- metal detectors and guards can't tell the difference between a kid with a bit of teenage angst and the grinning psychopath with raging violence in his heart. A bit scary don’t you think?


While reading you will ask yourself who in their right mind would dream up a plan like that? Who would spend years planning it? And who, when the plan went haywire, would settle for taking out as many as possible before blowing their brains out? Some really disturbed kids, if you’re charitable you could say, “sick” if not then “evil” might be a better term. If Cullen got it right (and I believe he did) don’t call them “tormented” or “misunderstood” (which is how I viewed them for years) because they weren’t. They gave away clues, they committed some serious crimes prior to their “day of reckoning” and not only did they bamboozle their parents, but they managed to fool everyone.

It is unfortunate to say that each set of parents has remained tight-lipped even after 10 years. So we cannot truly know how really unaware they were about the gun purchasing, the bomb making, the video diaries and the hate filled journals.

Cullen beseeches us to remember there are psychopaths in every city and small town and that what happened at Columbine can happen anywhere. Most psychopaths are nonviolent, and very few are as diabolical as Eric Harris, but when they are beware, because there are plenty of despondent teens like Dylan Klebold for them to snare.

I would recommend you read “Columbine” for the stunning reportage and the heroism of the students and teachers. And at the end instead of letting out a sigh of relief that this nightmare didn’t happen to our town, you should ask yourself a variation of the infamous question, “Do you know who your children are?”