Tina Carter~
My mom and I agree whole heartedly, my mom is currently envolved
with an internet prayer chain, of aprivate christian fun chat room at
talk city if you would like to become envolved email my mom at
lmringholz@juno.com
Thank you for the free back grounds I come here often. Did you catch
the Date line story about Littleton it was very touching. I an currently
in High school right now and actually I am angered that childern today
would/could do such a thing. The day after what happened in Colorado,
our school had a bomb threat, we were sent outside till the school was
considerd clear.
After I saw what had happened on tv it scared me! You know some
other child was watching about all of those bombs and guns thinking that
is so cool and they decide one day I think I would like to get back at
all of those people who were mean to me. It is frightning to think that
in todays society that childern have to be afraid to be childern . What
child through-out their life dosnt make fun of somebody? It is a part of
growing up and maturing. When you get older (not all of us) realise
what we use say or do to that "nerd" was stupid and immature.
I hear from my grand parents and parents on how carefree their
generations were. I am almost afraid of what will my future children be
subjected to in their generation. It seems no matter how hard we try we
will never be able to rid the world of such bad things. We can ban guns
and such through-out the entire world but if someone wanted to do
something like shoot up their school it would be possible. Where their
is a will there is a way. Which is sad. I just wish that who ever is
thinking about doing something as irrational as that would think twice
it really ruins alot of people lives. Thank-you~ Melissa S. NC
missingshoe1@juno.com My Plea to America
As I sit here and watch Rachel Joy Scott's funeral my eyes flood with tears. I have been eternally moved by the events taken place at Littleton, Colorado. I want to tell Rachel's parents that Rachel did not die in vain she has lead me back to my Lord Jesus Christ, through not only in her death but in her determination of life as well.
I am only 16, but I am knowledgeable enough to understand the suffering, of the community. I believe this rampage was not a waste of human life, it was a sign, it has opened not only my eyes, but the nation's as well. We cannot let the youth of America stray from the light of the Lord, we must protect them from the evils that have plauged this nation for countless years.
I know that few students will take this event as just news in the media, and others will be hit and feel sad, or scared but soon that feeling will gradually flutter away, which is a shame .
Help Us!!! Help our youth!!! We cannot stand here anymore and let these travisties continue. It needs to stop. If not now when? I am personally afraid to go to school. Education is not "safe" anymore. I am afraid that someday I will be the one who lies on the cold cafeteria floor dead for 2 days after some person has senselessly shot me while I was eating lunch with my friends.
Blame not only goes to the strayed teens that commited this horrid act of hatred, but to all of us. The problem with society today is not the music, movies, or games, it is the fact that our nation has become numb, we as a whole do not care anymore, we watch the news and hear about the pain of other people and ignore, as if we are uncapable of feelings.
Open Up America! See what is happening to us! Stop ignoring us! Please feel! Please pay attention! Don't let us be corrupted by evil anymore! Does it have to to take a senseless blood bath to slap you in the face and wake up to our dying youth?
As I sit here in front of my computer with the echoing sounds of children crying for their friends and family, coming from my television, I feel extremly sad. And I think now of the special children who have lost their dear lives in this pathetic excuse for attention and I feel lost, like a part of me has been ripped out and shattered into a billion peices.
To those who have been senslessly murdered or injured I say this to you, Thank You for being strong for us, the youth of America, your family. We are family and always will be. You must not forget this. You have helped me awaken from my life of being numb and apathetic. I owe my eternal thanks to you.
To parents across the nation: Go up to your children and give them a hug, for you never know when it could be your last. You are in control of your children. You have the strength to guide us into the right direction, we are listening. We hear. We see. All we need is your advice, council and help.
Please hear my plea and take this in your heart. I pray to the Lord that he will soon come and save us from this world of violence and grotesque scenes. That he can lift us up to the Golden Gates of Heaven. So that we can be reunited with the souls of "the lost children". This is not the end though, more will come, and no one will care. Please open your eyes and hearts to us the children and to the Lord. He is the WAY the only WAY!
American people when this happens to YOU, who will care then? Tell me Who?
REBECCA ANNE BRITT, 16, McALLEN, TEXAS
Rebecca Anne Britt
Email: Akane16@gurlmail.com
School: Nikki Rowe High School
Grade: 11
I saw your page about the Columbine shootings, and decided to write. I'm a
highschool freshman attending a school in a nice, suburban area with about
1100 people.
I feel so awful for the people that were killed, but deep down inside, I know
they're better off than any of us because they're with God now.
As for the killers, I can't ever hope to feel empathy for why they did this,
but all I can hope is that God will deal with the things they've done.
The really hard part for me is to see everyone greiving. I'm not a very
emotional person by nature, but after seeing so many shots on the news of the
students mourning, I broke down and cried. Me! Cry! The thought that really
disturbs me is that I can see the faces of people I know in that crowd.
I'm a freshman this year in a highschool identical to Columbine. We're in a
nice suburban area with wide lawns and kids that can afford good clothes. On
the news I could see the people there -people I've never met before, and most
likely never will- pouring their hearts and souls into their songs and
poetry, anything to let out the immense grief they feel.
Just because knowing the people at my school, and knowing how guys my age
are, after seeing to boys embracing, it touched me. I could see the boy that
sits across the aisle from me in English, Brandon in that face. He's proud,
and a typical guy where he doesn't hug his friends, etc.
Here, though, these two guys were hugging. The tremendous agony they must be
going through to do that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that guys
should never hug, but just that it's so unusual.
I came to your site looking for backgrounds. After last weeks horrible
tragedy at Columbine, I felt the need to express my views somewhere. I
thought a web site would be good. I don't know what the news coverage is
like elsewhere, but here the tragic events are on tv constantly. I can't
watch them without crying. The grief I and the community feel is huge.
My daughter has already had 2 bomb threats called into her high school
since the shooting. There were a couple of seniors who thought it would
be funny to run down the halls in black trenchcoats. How can anyone be
so unfeeling to think of this as a joke? About 5 years ago I went to a
Promise Keepers convention. It was a very low point in my life. The
message about God took hold of me and moved me greatly. But like most
things I got apathetic, my church attendance
dropped, and now we have this tragedy. This terrible event has made me
realize how important God is in our lives. I will get back to church and
get involved with the youth of our community. I really feel like this
shooting was an act of spiritual warfare in the physical world. I don't
know if it was just me, but it seemed like the few weeks prior to the
shooting the climate here was one of anger. Everywhere I went people
were angry about something. I wonder if the evil was feeding off of
this. Sorry for rambling ,thanks for listening.
Randy
The problem is nation wide, lack of moral standards and intolerance for
others. The problem exists from the government on down to the kids
themselves. The President condones lying and cheating, the parents fail to
accept their personal responsibility, and the kids egg others who are
different, although they know in their hearts that it is wrong. I have a
daughter who is now twenty. She has a friend that she went to school with,
who is gay. A nice kid, who used to come to our home. He stopped coming when
he found out that I knew he was gay. I asked my daughter why he did not come
to visit anymore, and she said he thought that I was angry at him for being
gay. My Daughter and I had a little heart to heart chat about that. I told
her that was not the case. I told her that I did not approve of his
lifestyle, but that was his, not mine and it did not affect me one way or
the other. I told her that the Bible speaks against it, but he is the one
who will have to take it up with the Lord. I told her that if he was her
friend, his lifestyle should not interfere with their friendship. She knows
me for what I am. A crusty old Retired Army Ranger and hard as nails. But
she also knows that I am also honest in my dealings with others, and will
not lie for any reason. As I said the kid is nice and friendly. Sorta miss
him coming around to visit.
Hello, I am a high school student in Omaha, NE. My school is considered the type of school that Columbine is. Through my years at Elementary School, and Middle School, I feel the safest at High School.
We have a plan at our school. If something happens, like a terrorist, our principal goes over the intercom and tells us this code. We go into a period that is called "Lock Down" where we lock the doors to the rooms, and shut the lights off and go to one corner of the classroom.
I pray that something like this does not happen to my school, or anywhere for that matter, but I am glad that my school is prepared for something like this to happen.
Hi, my name is Fred and I live in Canada. We have gun control here, and I wouldn't be without it. If you want to apply for a weapon here, first you
must apply for a permit from your local police department, then you must
apply to your provincial police, when this is done,you must apply to the
Canadian Mounted Police. This takes a lot of time and effort, it makes one
think is it worth it. These rules do not apply to shot guns and low powered
rifles, but a course in handling these weapons must be taken first. I'm sure
that if any of the children killed in Colorado, were children of the brass
in the National Rifle Association, they might take a better look at their
thoughts on gun control. Please, please how many kids must die before the
people in the US get control."
In response to the shooting in Canada:
Hi Tina, Fred Of Canada Here, thank you for your condolences on the senseless shootings in Calgary, Alberta Canada. I think this was a copy cat shooting. However without gun control here, it could have been much worse! Right here in Windsor, a Catholic High School had two bomb threats, The school had to be emptied, while the fire department and police officials searched the school. Of course nothing was found, but the search had to go anyway. I worked for 30 years at a University here, and quite often during exams, bomb threats were called in, You almost new that they were crank calls, but one cannot take that chance .
I don't have the answers to where our children are heading, but a few bad apples do have a tendency to spoil the barrel. I have seen some very nice things and projects that the children work at, but it almost seems that good news doesn't sell papers or television time. But the kids out there in most countries are very, very good citizens..God Bless them.
My mom and I agree whole heartedly, my mom is currently envolved
with an internet prayer chain, of a private christian fun chat room at
talk city if you would like to become envolved email my mom at
lmringholz@juno.com
Thank you for the free back grounds I come here often. Did you catch
the Date line story about Littleton it was very touching? I am currently
in High school right now and actually I am angered that childern today
would/could do such a thing. The day after what happened in Colorado,
our school had a bomb threat, we were sent outside till the school was
considerd clear.
After I saw what had happened on tv it scared me! You know some
other child was watching about all of those bombs and guns thinking that
is so cool and they decide one day I think I would like to get back at
all of those people who were mean to me. It is frightening to think that
in today's society that children have to be afraid to be childern . What
child through-out their life doesn't make fun of somebody? It is a part of
growing up and maturing. When you get older (not all of us) realize
what we use say or do to that "nerd" was stupid and immature.
I hear from my grand parents and parents on how carefree their
generations were. I am almost afraid of what will my future children be
subjected to in their generation. It seems no matter how hard we try we
will never be able to rid the world of such bad things. We can ban guns
and such through-out the entire world but if someone wanted to do
something like shoot up their school it would be possible. Where there
is a will there is a way. Which is sad. I just wish that whoever is
thinking about doing something as irrational as that would think twice
it really ruins alot of people lives. Thank-you.
I visited your sights for backgrounds and I just wanted
to comment on colarodo I hope that you post my comments on
your page to share with others. When I was in 6th Grade
I remember Kids in my class use to be heavily into
Martial Arts Films, Ninja Movies//Karate Movies one
day this kid named David brought in a Ninja star it was not real
just metal design that someone at his fathers
work made he thought it was cool and wanted to show it
the other kids.......I remember this other classmat Chris he was
laughing at him and he said " You idiot that isn't a Ninja Star"
the next day Chris brought in a real Ninja throwing Star
he showed it off to our class, when I touched it in my hand
it was made of very thick heavy steel and I was like whoa!
One day when we had the day off I went to Chris's house for the first time and he showed me a gun it was a colt 45 magnum it was broke but Chris told me his Dad had Shotguns and he was a gun collecter.
After my visit which lasted 10 minutes I wanted outta there and I made an excuse that I had to go and left, you know I thought he was some sort of freak and I avoided him in school or did my best to for the rest of the time I was in 6th grade. The question I had then and ask myself when I think about it years later is how and why would Chris's Parents allow him to own an illegal weapon like a Ninja Star (at least it is in Canada dont know if it is in the United States) for Parents information: Its designed to be thrown,when it contacts the corner of the eye it drills to the brain to kill someone.
As for violence don't kid yourself I knew guys in high school who use to always brag about beating people up cracking ribs or breaking someones nose at a nightclub, in my final year in High School a bully
in my class started a fight with this kid from another school
who shared our building(a seperate wing) the bully from our side
of the buiding started it over some girl,they hit each other with broom sticks the fight spilled out into the parking lot with fists&kicking 9 big guys who were friends of the bully joined in they pounded the hell out of that weaker kid they really bloodied his face then the bully from our side of the building got a tire iron while
they held him then wacked the other Kid boom! By the time intervention occured someone was obviously hurt and there was a much more serious situation the Kids from the other school now found out what happened and were upset,the grapevine was they were coming to our side with baseball bats, your thinking Jesus Christ is this a Prison or a School?!
I remember the Principle from our wing angrily bringing us into the
cafeteria and chewing everyone out they expelled this bully from
our school, he was constantly harrassing me and making my life at school hell I said good riddance to bad rubbish! Our School Staff was so scared that when we were doing our exams for Christmas they would escort us from the moment we got in the building till we left,
they said not to walk alone the other kids would jump us and beat us up in revenge for what had occured in the parking lot.
There was no attempt to bring the students from either building
together or allow them to discuss the incident,instead what
i heard going on was not attempts by Students to talk to each
other but which one of them would represent the school and settle
there differences in a big rumble and more violence!:(
The next year belive it or not our Bully had the nerve to show
up at admission time he looked me straight in the face with this very
evil look like he enjoyed who he was and what he did to others......
he frightned me and boy was I ever glad when our Principal
took him aside and told him he was not welcome back!
One thing I would like to tell Parents who are reading this
people who are outcasts loners or shy kids are not all
violent own a gun a knife or intend anyone any harm......
the media has suddenly made any kid who is shy or wants to mind
his own buisness,not be part of a culture of nightclubbing,
drinking/smoking/dope/rebellion as being troublemakers which
is neither fair nor accurate, what you should be worried about
is the "Chris" and the "Bully" types who I talked about,there
needs to be more school psychologists,metal detectors better
training and faster intervention when it becomes clear that
a kid being harrassed displays symptons or shows signs he
is ready to snap or explode..part of the problem is that at
a certain age boys are taught to bottle everything they feel up
not let there emotions out,you know be a man suck it up its
frowned on to cry out to release emotion and pain that needs release!
I definatley support metal-detectors in all schools as well routine canine unit sweeps to find these weapons.............kids
bring guns to school because they belive it's the only way to
protect themselves others use it for there own intentions like
mugging, taxing intimidation every school has a Taxman who collects
money,they want air jordans a radio and if you dont pay they harass.
Most cases violence happens outside school like on a bus or in a metro station if you piss a kid off he doesnt run after you with a switch blade,nowadays he runs after you with a machete/sword
used to cut Jungle Vine or Sugar Cane! I'm deadly serious its happened in my city and you would be shocked if you saw some of the
machete police have taken off students arrested how long are they?
Crocadile Dundee "Thats not a Knife......Thats a Knife".
A dads job is to groom his son to manhood and teach him right
from wrong but if hes too busy at two jobs whos there? The TV
movies, wrestling,video games like doom, what they have all done
is blur the line between right and wrong,in Comic Books You had Villans and Superheros Spiderman&Ironman, Doctor Doom&the Goblin....
The heros had morals, villians were neither admired nor looked
at as glamorous for there actions not anymore the Villians are
looked at as the heros, wrestling has changed too remember there
use to be a goodguy and a bad guy?!not anymore the Villians are
cheered,you see more revealing nudity and the audience loves it
when they show there bum or touch there crotches and tell the
Audience to suck it, you see this loosening of morals in Games
when I was 10 there was pacman,defender,digdug,tetris and centipede
now its doom, quake and duke nukem all blood and gore,
where its not enough to shoot the guy with one shoot it sometimes
takes two or three shows or more to kill a villian.
We certainly can't blame tv and hollywood for tragedys
like colorado but there has to be a step back at what is being
fed and we have to question why someone has decided
that there is no more right and wrong in the most powerful mediums
which affect children and even adults..........
I hope that my letter has reached someone out there and that
we all work to change things, we can start by not buying these
kind of games or requiring that games that involve that amount
of blood be restricted to adults, that recipes to make bombs
be taken off the net.
I came to this page looking for backgrounds, yet I am now in tears.
Goegraphically, I am so far from where these shootings happened, but my
heart could not be closer. I am studying to be a high school teacher, in
my third year at university and I can't ask enough times WHY? Australia
has tight gun control laws, and everyone here is saying, don't worry, it
only happens in America. The problem goes beyond gun control though, it
is the youth that are screaming for our help. I want to teach so that I
can be there for at least a small percentage of our youth and try and
bring some love, some happiness into their lives, but I feel so impotent
when something happens like this. It could happen here too but
Australians seem to want to shut it behind closed doors and keep on
smiling. If its locked away it is not going to bother us right? Well,
please don't let it be my beautiful sister who is still in school or one
of my friends when we are teaching. This is a wake up call for everybody
and we must start to take responsibility. The blood gives me nightmares,
when I know that those kids were not given a chance to graduate, to
conceive children to watch the sun go down, just one more time. I am
hoping the friends and relatives of the victims know that the rest of
the world is grieving with them.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to debrief, at least someone can
hear me. Feel free to email me or post my letter up. I want people to
know that this issue stems further than America. These issues are
universal. Want to add your thoughts? E-mail me. Thanks!