Why did you decide to write about Sue Klebold?
Question #2 in the series of questions posed to me by a high school student from Medellin Columbia!
This one was supposed to be easy. Or so I thought. Well, perhaps a little easier than the others. That's not how it turned out to be, though.
Reality can sometimes pretty much kick one in the rear. This is one of those times.
In that vein, I never really made a conscious decision to write about Sue Klebold. That decision was, quite literally, made for me by the Colorado Attorney General's Office when they put out the Tweet regarding the 20/20 interview Sue Klebold did with Diane Sawyer. The fact Sue was a target of this Tweet made me angry....very, very angry.
I previously shared this screen shot in another blog post entitled "Sue Klebold, what WERE you thinking?" That title may have given potential readers a kind of misleading impression that I was going to castigate Sue for doing what she was doing. It was intentional on my part to mislead in that regard.
The run up, or dust up as it were, to Sue's interview on 20/20, arguably one of the more anticipated television events in quite awhile especially given the timing not too far ahead of the 17th anniversary of Columbine, was destined to be a doozy in more ways than one.
After all, the mother of one of the shooters of Columbine was finally going to open up and take full responsibility for being a failure as a mother, right?
That's the impression I got of expectations by a wide range of those anticipating what she might have to say. And therein lies the reason, if you will, for the title of that previous blog post.
I believe far too many people were gearing up to lambast her if she didn't 'fess up' rather than try to listen to what she might have to offer. I know this to be true because in the aftermath, I had several conversations with folks who were pretty, shall we say, pissed off at what Sue didn't say, much less what she did say. Plus, if one takes a really close look at the Tweet from the Colorado Attorney General's Office, well.....
I must admit to a bit of anxiety about what she might have to say, as well. But my anxiety wasn't founded in an expectation she'd 'fess up' about anything. I can't really even explain the basis for that anxiety, really. It was just there.
The thoughts, the questions, the anticipation? They were all there. Those were the things I was looking forward to. Not an expectation for an admission of guilt. Not in a million years.
What I saw and heard from those anticipating this interview, however, left me agog at the sheer cognitive dissonance of some folks, especially some folks having no direct experience whatsoever with the event, itself.
Soon after April 20, 1999 a hue and a cry figuratively calling for the heads of the Harris and Klebold families on a platter was heard far and wide. It built over time. It never really reached a tipping point, but it certainly remained in the background....that is up until the 20/20 interview.
At that point in time, the media frenzy began in earnest once again.
Speculation. Obfuscation. Condemnation.
Some chose to welcome the interview. I certainly did. For me, it represented an opportunity of sorts to learn something new. Whether that experience would be positive or negative remained to be seen, but it was an opportunity nonetheless.
Some chose to forgive Sue Klebold. That's one I'm still struggling with because there was nothing to forgive her for....she did nothing wrong. Nor did she ask for forgiveness. That wasn't what the interview was supposed to be about.
Some chose to get on the bandwagon of engaging, once again, in the blame game. This one, too, baffles me.
For example, just the other day a gorilla in a zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio was killed in order to save a child's life...a child who apparently got away from his mother and fell into the gorilla enclosure. The blame game reaction from armchair quarterbacks was immediate and it was brutal.
"The mother should face criminal negligence charges" was just one of the many claims made by those who watched in horror as that child was dragged around the enclosure in the water by the gorilla.
Seriously? The mother...should...face...criminal...charges.
What does this have to do with Sue Klebold? How does it tie into the tenor of this blog post?
I daresay the blame game also applies just as much to the families of the shooters of Columbine as they do to the mother of the toddler in Cincinnati. Yes, I went there. I included the entire families of the shooters of Columbine. It's far too easy for armchair quarterbacks to sit in judgment of others they think and believe are at fault for something.
Conflicting emotions aside, there are no clear cut answers.
Biases? Yup!
Prejudices? Aplenty!
Judgments? Oh, yeah!
And, arguably the single most slippery slope of them all...opinions? HELL yes!!!
Following the massacre that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut December 14, 2012 one of the parents whose child was murdered that day was told by someone they just couldn't imagine. The response from that parent was beautiful if, for no other reason than it was simple, straightforward, and heartfelt. What they said was, "Try. Try to imagine".
That's why I write about Sue Klebold. In a roundabout way, I've already asked the Colorado Attorney General's Office to 'try to imagine'. There were a lot of other things I asked them to do, too, but trying to imagine is first and foremost on my to do list requests for that office and for others to engage in, as well.
Try to imagine if everyone actually did try to imagine. Just imagine the possibilities!
The thing is, I never blamed the parents of the shooters of Columbine. They didn't commit that massacre. Their sons did. Their sons, and their sons alone, were and still are responsible for what they did that fateful day.
So, when the Tweet came out from the Colorado Attorney Generals Office I knew I had to say something.
Saying something wasn't a defense of Sue Klebold. Saying something was really nothing more than calling out a really, really stupid remark made by someone in a state office at the Executive Branch level of government here in Colorado.
To me, there is nothing more irritating than a blatant exhibition of willful ignorance, and that is exactly what was on public display via the Tweet shared at the very beginning of this blog post.
A long time ago, this Calvin and Hobbes cartoon came across my desk. I thought it was painfully apropos in this situation.
Learning from something....or not. Our choice to make!
What a novel concept!
My two cents....
* Comments on this blog are moderated.
