In Remembrance

20 years ago I was at work on another ordinary day. Like most people I was oblivious to the fact that the world as we knew it was about to change. My wife was anticipating the celebration of her birthday on April 20th, unaware that she would forever after share that date with another event about to unfold. Back then the internet was still new, cell phones still something to marvel at (the world's first touchscreen phone wouldn't come out until the following year) so the news that there had been a shooting came over the airwaves via radio and television. As archaic as that technology seems now, it was more than adequate in relaying the horror of events happening live in Littleton, Colorado. The shootings at Columbine High School were unfolding before our eyes.

My wife (and her brother) had both graduated from Columbine several years prior and their childhood home was just a block away from the school. Her parents were about to see their front lawn turn into a police command center. SWAT teams, who treated the event as a hostage taking, entered the school 47 minutes after the shootings started and five brutally long hours passed before law enforcement declared the school under control. 12 students and one teacher were to lose their lives that day as a nation came face to face with the then-new reality of school violence.

Some of you reading this blog may not have been old enough at the time to really remember the events of that day but I remember them as if they were yesterday. My commute to and from work took me by Clement Park which is adjacent to Columbine and which would soon begin to fill with thousands of teddy bears, flowers, and signs of condolence as a community as well as a nation found itself in mourning and shock over not just the loss of life but the loss of innocence. The shootings have sadly continued unabated since 1999 and we still seem unable to come to grips with any meaningful solutions to the underlying causes of these sad events.

In September 2007 the Columbine Memorial was dedicated and opened to the public. My wife to this day cannot bring herself to visit the Memorial. Candidly, my first visit was only a matter of weeks ago when I took a friend who was visiting from out of state and it was just as difficult a visit as I had imagined it would be. Now we find ourselves at the 20 year Anniversary of the Columbine shootings. The local media has been covering the upcoming anniversary from every possible angle. Remembrance events are planned during this week and crowds will gather out of respect for those no longer with us. The Memorial, I think, needs to be experienced more quietly so that you have the peace and quiet to ponder what happened so long ago and what has happened in the years since. As I sometimes do I have collected my thoughts and emotions through my photo- and videography. For those too far away to visit, or who still find such a visit too painful to contemplate, I share this humble and respectful view of the Columbine Memorial in remembrance of the lives lost that day. They are not forgotten.