'Columbine' Pursues Elusive Truth of Event

Of all of the books I've read this year, one that I'm certain will stay with me forever is Columbine, written by a former college classmate of mine, Dave Cullen. Initially I wasn't certain why I would want to read a book about the horrifying massacre at a Colorado high school 10 years later, but once I started, it was so compelling that I finished it in two days.

The book is as much about truth as it is about that event, and how truth becomes clouded, distorted, intentionally obscured and even lost in the coverage of a tragic, emotional experience. Although we were taught in journalism school that our stories would be the first draft of history, Columbine demonstrates that it is sometimes nearly impossible to correct an error in that first draft if it captures the imagination of the public. Instead, the corrected truth is rejected in favor of a more appealing tale.

I thought I knew the story of Columbine until I read Dave's book. Now I know just how wrong I had it, and how sometimes the truth takes years to actually see the light of day in spite of what appears to be close scrutiny by all sorts of media reporters.

Dave's book is more relevant than ever now that the massacre at Ft. Hood has demonstrated the exact same scenario, only involving a military officer who exhibited obvious signs of mental instability which were passed off as something far less serious by those who simply did not want to see the truth. In addition, the initial story of how a woman police officer shot and stopped Nidal Hasan from his shooting spree was widely reported, but the later correction that another officer was involved was covered with fewer words and flair. It will be interesting to see if people get that wrong in the future, too, just like in Columbine.

Here are some of the things that I learned from Dave's book that I didn't know:

• There were warning signs for two years of what was to come, and numerous people were given clues of the intentions of the students. No one acted on what they knew. The police never followed up on knowledge of credible threats against other students.
• The story of the Christian girl who was said to have answered one of the shooters that she believed in God and then was shot -- which even inspired her mother to write a book about it -- did not in fact do so. She was shot and killed without saying anything. Another girl was the one who spoke and then was shot. The fundamentalist Christians who liked the story refused to accept the truth.
• A teacher and possibly some students bled to death because of the ineptitude of the SWAT team in reaching them. Since then, the protocol for dealing with active shooters has changed, as demonstrated at Virginia Tech, when security sought to actively stop them instead of treating it as a hostage situation.
• Bullying and Goth culture had nothing to do with the rage of the shooters. Eric Harris was a psychopath with Nihilistic views. Dylan Klebold was suicidal.
• Neither shooter was raised in church. Klebold went with his family to church for four months, then they dropped out. He desperately needed spiritual guidance, but never got it. His parents, however, finally got spiritual counseling after the murders and his suicide. Unfortunately, the minister who supplied it was shunned by members of his own church afterward, and later became a prison chaplain.
• A fight over a monument of crosses for each of the students who died, including the shooters, ensued primarily by one of the parents of a murdered student. Some are still angry and have yet to forgive the shooters.

A lot of lives were destroyed by the event, yet many of the young people were resilient. Some have continued in their faith since those dark days; others may never forgive and find peace.

Dave spent years trying to get at the truth, too, some of which was hidden by the police who were embarrassed by their mistakes before, during and after the shootings. It took his book to set the record straight, since other books still repeated some of the errors of early reporting.

The word "truth" is used at least 192 times in the Bible. The greatest truth of all, of course, is the word of God and the truth of his existence and role in our lives. You could even say that speaking truth is a holy act. Of course, those who open their hearts to God already know the truth of the living spirit. Dave Cullen walked in truth in his book, so may he be blessed by that for opening the eyes of many to what transpired. Only good will come of it.

Back in Time for the Films, Books & Turkey

Usually when I go silent on the page it's for one of two reasons: either life is so unbearable I'm afraid of what will spill out; or life is so good I don't want to jinx it by writing about it. This past month it was neither reason -- I had to let my hand heal after injuring it from moving into our new home.

Weenie, you say? You try it. I dare you. I tried. I kept writing after aggravating my old editing injury, once known as carpal tunnel syndrome, now repetitive strain injury. Repeating the strain of writing on surfaces that were not the right height, along with a hand that was repeatedly swollen, just kept aggravating it. So I stopped.

Now my hand seems completely healed, and I'm ba-a-a-ack, as Jack Nicholson in The Shining would say. For the past month, lots of ideas have been percolating. Sometimes it's good to just think about things, read a lot of books and let the ideas simmer.

Also, I wanted to do NaNoWriMo -- write a novel in a month. The month of November, to be precise. I started out really well, then got the flu last week and was out of commission. Will I make the 75,000 word mark now? Doubtful. Nothing like the flu to kill momentum. I am starting up again today, but I only have 10,000 words, so unless I pull a Jack Kerouac and speed for the rest of the month, it's not likely. I guess I will have to just go at my own pace.

So enough about writing. Here's what I have to say, in brief, about the mostly forgettable films I've seen lately -- two of which have NO GOD whatsoever in their universe, one that barely acknowledges his existence and one of which is full of evil and God is incidental. Books are for another day.

First up is one Andy forced me to see, Law Abiding Citizen. OK, he didn't hold a gun to my head, but it's the kind of movie that you know is going to be bad before you step into the theater. I went along with it because he's seen my chick flicks without complaint. Essentially, this movie is about emotional manipulation of the worst kind. It's a revenge flick dressed up as a moral outrage movie. The only thing outrageous about it, however, is how thin the characters are, how flimsy the plot is and how ridiculous the scenarios are. It's like a video game in which I picture the writers saying, what crazy way to kill people can we think up next? If there is any redeeming quality to the film, it's the explosions. That's it. Jamie Foxx took the money and ran with this one. Stink-o.

On the God subject, the only mention of anything about Him is the appearance of a Bible to swear in Foxx as the new prosecutor. I guess it's supposed to give the scene gravitas. Certainly he's no avenging angel in his new role. His behavior at the end of the movie negates any idea of real justice in the system. Frankly, I hated this movie in just about every way. Next!

Pirate Radio. The depiction of hippie radio broadcasters on a boat after rock is banned in Great Britain is essentially what it's advertised to be, and less. You think you're going to have a rollicking good time, but there's no real center to the film. The writers either didn't want to create real characters in all of their emotional reality, or they wanted to string together a series of vignettes. Either way, it's OK, but only for the music and a couple of laughs. There is no character you can really love or hate. As far as God goes, it's the '60s and the characters are only interested in sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

Surprisingly, Paranormal Activity is one of the best films I've seen lately, and I don't usually go for scary films anymore because I don't need those kinds of thrills (or the gore). Its cinema verite style makes is both believable and extremely personal. The characters are natural, funny and identifiable. If anything, they are too human in that they make all of the mistakes young people make in not reaching out for help. The guy has a macho attitude about the nature of evil, and thinks crosses are silly symbols. If you haven't seen the film, I won't spoil it, but it's like a ghost story on film. If you don't pray now, you may after watching it. (Cue scary music.) It will haunt you for life!

We watched it in a theater full of teenagers on Halloween Eve and the screams were so loud people outside of the theater called the police, who came in the theater to make sure no one had been injured. It was that good.

I had to wrack my brain to remember the fourth film, since it was that lame. The Invention of Lying had a good premise, but the film broke down as soon as Ricky Gervais's character began telling about heaven as though it were a fairy tale. This was a world in which God did not exist at all! Not only is this improbable, science tells us it is impossible. We are all wired to believe. So you have to suspend your disbelief on multiple levels to enjoy this film. I found it tiresome, Gervais's character to be a selfish boor and Jennifer Garner's character to be a ninny by the time it was all over. I guess a world without lying, deceit or any shades of gray, for that matter, is a very boring world.

If Andy wants to see The Box, I will refuse. Really. It's like Law Abiding Citizen squared. Put a lid on that Box.