Friday, July 20, 2012

Bowling For Aurora

Today, after 12 people have been shot to death eight miles from the house I grew up in, my mind immediately goes back to the first time a massacre happened six miles from home, Columbine High School.
For the sake of making a point, I dug up a photo from what could be entitled “The Awkward Years-High School, 1999”. Yes, I still have my Irish eyebrows and an immense amount of bangs and no, Harry, Martina Navratilova was not actually my fashion adviser. Yet, I urge you to look a little bit closer at my 15 year old face. My teeth reveal (besides a mouth full of braces) a smile full of “would-could-be”. My only piece of jewelry I’m rocking is a Virgin Mary pendant, showing to the world my faith in God and humanity. Wow! Young people are shockingly and perhaps, painfully hopeful. Then on April 20, 1999, streams of ambulances, fire trucks, police cars screamed down University Blvd headed to Columbine High School where two disgruntled students had killed one teacher and 12 students. For me, the illusion of safety was immediately gone. Yes, horrific stuff can and probably will happen in any venue. However, in my opinion, children are too ill-equipped to deal with trauma. So my humble question is, besides the useless (and predictable) prayer vigils, condemnations from politicians and hoards of Facebook updates on the subject, what have we done to make Colorado and the rest of the world a safer place for the next generation? For more information on someone who has made the world a bit safer, visit www.danielmauser.com, the website of a family of a fellow nerd who perished at Columbine.

1 comment:

  1. What about stem cells therapy, have you looked into this kind of treatment? it seems to fix, not just patch or diminish health problems. I have a friend who works for a Stem cells clinic in Mexico and she told me they have great results for many degenerative diseases! What are your thoughts?

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