Date: Fri 14-May-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-Columbine-commemoration

Full Text:

ED INK: The Value Of Going Through The Motions

Who is to say why some tragic stories stick with us while others come and go,

swept in and out of our consciousness on the tide of television news? In terms

of sheer carnage, the slaying of high school students in Littleton, Colorado

pales in comparison with what's going on in Kosovo, or what has happened in

recent years in Rwanda, or 20 years ago in Cambodia and Laos. But the kids who

died in Columbine High School were remarkably like our own sons, daughters,

sisters, and brothers. We know intellectually that every killing is tragic,

but our emotional connection to victims who we seem to know makes the

Columbine killings different. Consequently, the healing takes a little longer.

To help in that process locally, Newtown youths, their parents, teachers, and

clergy are making plans for a week-long program of activities at the beginning

of June, commemorating the lives that were lost at Columbine. Initial planning

calls for a candlelight vigil June 1 at Bruce Jenner Stadium at Newtown High

School, planting a commemorative tree, and forging a townwide covenant

affirming tolerance, understanding, and acceptance of all people.

There will be a great temptation to view these efforts to draw meaning from

the Columbine tragedy in a cynical light. Have our sentimental rituals of

remembrance ever made a difference? How many times, after all, have we been

stunned and then moved by current events to light a candle in a crowd, to pin

a ribbon to our lapels, and to remember that all life is dear only to return

to our old habit of forgetting every injury that is not our own -- even those

we inflict on others without thinking?

The parents of today's high school students, who came of age themselves in the

'60s and '70s, know that youthful hope for a better world can yield more

disillusionment than enlightenment. But in times like these, when the world

cries out for hope, it is important to guard against cynicism and

disillusionment. As the art historian Kenneth Clark pointed out, "We can

destroy ourselves by cynicism and disillusion, just as effectively as by

bombs."

So even as we wonder about the value of lighting candles, wearing ribbons, and

planting trees, it is important for us to go through the motions of

commemoration as a community. In itself, each ritual may have little bearing

on the course of the world, but it reawakens each of us to the cause of

creating a better reality for ourselves and others through small, positive

actions and thoughts. If enough people repeat them often enough, change is not

only possible -- it is inevitable.