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Littleton's lesson: strengthen families
By Jon Hoornstra
It's an open question whether the volume of tears flowing in Littleton, Colorado is greater than the gallons of ink used by newspapers to report that small town's tragedy. Waves of grief have overwhelmed the town's people to a near emotional standstill.
At some point, however, reporters will pay off their motel bills and move on. Stories of Littleton will gradually yield the front pages to other events, like the warring in Europe. But tears will flow in Littleton for years, perhaps a lifetime for many.
At the moment, our well-oiled news industry seems barely able to keep up with the nation's appetite for news out of Colorado that might explain why two young men, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, gunned down 13 classmates, wounded 28 others, and planted more than 30 pipe bombs in an effort to destroy both lives and the very physical structure of their own high school.
We also want to know how. How could the two engage in a year-long plan to destroy their school and kill 500 people on campus and not be discovered? Their school, population 1,800, is uncomfortably close in size to our own Lynbrook and Monta Vista high schools. Although the Littleton high school building still stands, albeit damaged, the two boys destroyed lives and brought the community's sense of itself to its knees.
The Littleton tragedy sent educators across the nation scrambling to review and, in some cases, beef up security on their own campuses. And good that they have, as there have been more than 425 bomb threats reported against schools nationwide since the Littleton event.
Close to home, the superintendents of both the Fremont and Cupertino school districts promptly sent letters to the entire school community, teachers, staff and families of students reminding everyone of the numerous resources available to prevent outbursts of extreme or violent behavior. Both superintendents also reminded everyone of their strictly enforced "zero tolerance" policies with respect to violence and drugs.
But schools can do only so much. The family is society's first and best line of defense, as well as its greatest strength. When the family doesn't function, we're all in trouble. No school has a policy or program that can protect us from parents so disconnected from their children that they don't notice the sawed-off shotgun barrel in their son's bedroom. Nor can schools protect us from parents who don't notice when their child is engaged in a year-long program to amass weapons and parts to build pipe bombs, or not notice they are operating a hate-filled web site or threatening other students. All of these elements were part of the Littleton story.
But others fell short of the mark, as well. The parents of one of Eric Harris' classmates registered two formal complaints with Littleton police about threats from Harris. The police never responded, according to a Rocky Mountain News story.
What about other social services? Both Harris and Klebold underwent a court-ordered 11-month "diversion program" after they pled guilty to felony trespassing in January 1998. The boys managed to complete the program, even though "anger management" was a part of it.
And what about the school? Harris and Klebold produced a video for a film class last fall that depicted assassinations of athletes. Surely it's reasonable to wonder what the teacher who graded the work thought after viewing the video. What if that teacher decided to discuss the film with a colleague, counselor or psychologist? What if they had teamed up to become proactive and look at the bigger picture: the felony arrest, the threat to a fellow student and the medication for obsessive-compulsive behavior? Could the school have teamed up with law enforcement in time to have prevented this? We'll never know.
Raw emotions, grief and anger, now mix freely with well-worn political arguments over hot-button issues like gun control. As our hindsight vision becomes 20-20, Littleton is at risk for more damage from a witch hunt to place blame. And the nation is at risk from politicians rushing to enact hastily written laws.
I think we'd be well served by taking a long and thoughtful look at strengthening that front line, society's first line, the family.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
