Tragedy at Sandy Hook and Columbine
Tragedy at Sandy Hook
After the Sandy Hook massacre, a letter forwarded by a friend
“Subj: Unless we change, where will this take us next [another Sandy Hook].
“ What follows is a portion of the transcript of testimony given by Darrell Scott on May 27, 1999 to the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on crime. He is the father of Rachel Scott a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado.
“It is sad that we did not heed his words. I sense that our increased faith in political correctness and the increasing efforts to separate church and state are flaming the evil that is being unleashed in our society. And now sadly, in our post modern world where absolute truths are no longer accepted by the majority of our population and where lies and distortions are common in our public discourse, even small children in a classroom are not safe.
“My heart is so heavy and I could go on with my thoughts from this day but I stop so that you can hear from Mr. Scott.”
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Columbine wildflower in memory of Columbine and Sandy Hook
Tragedy at Columbine
From a father after the Columbine massacre, speaking to Congress
“At this very moment in a cemetery in Southern Denver – Chapel Hill Cemetery – they’re erecting 13 crosses that I think are well known across the country, as a permanent memorial at the head of my daughter’s grave. And my heart really longs to be there with my children, Bethany and her husband Don, Dana, Craig, and Mike, but it’s with their blessing that I’m here today, and I appreciate that.
“I realize that I’m a mere pawn in today’s hearings, but I’m a willing pawn, because I dare to believe that I can make a difference. Every once in awhile, a pawn has been used to checkmate a king. I have no hidden agenda, and of course I have no political aspirations. I simply speak to you as a brokenhearted father, and I only ask that you allow your heart to hear me for the next few minutes.
“Since the dawn of creation, there has been both good and evil in the hearts of men and women, and we all contain those seeds: We contain the seeds of kindness and we contain the seeds of violence. And the death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joyce Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other 11 children who died, must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.
“The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used, neither was it the NCA – the National Club Association – the true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in his heart. In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA, I am not a hunter, I do not even own a gun, I’m not here to represent or to defend the NRA, because I don’t believe they are responsible for my daughter’s death, therefore I don’t believe they need to be defended by me. If I believed that they had anything to do with Rachel’s murder, I would be their strongest opponent.
“I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy; it was a spiritual event which should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies. Much of that blame lies here in this room – much of that blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves.
“I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expressed my feelings best and it was written before I knew that I would be speaking here today, and I’d like to read that:
“Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You’ve stripped away our heritage,
You’ve outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question ‘Why?’
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need.
“Men and women are three part beings: we have a body, and we have a soul, and we have a spirit … And I believe we fail to recognize that third element, that really does need to be recognized by the legislative bodies of this country, that’s been ignored for so long. Spiritual influences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation’s history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries, and we know this is a historic fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We’ve refused to honor God, and in doing so we opened the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine’s tragedy occurs, politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that continue to erode away our personal and private liberties.
“We don’t need more restrictive laws. Erik and Dylan would not have been stopped by more gun laws or metal detectors. No amount of laws can stop someone who spends months of planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. Political posturing and restrictive legislation are not the answers. The young people of our nation hold the key, and there is a spiritual awakening that is taking place that will not be squelched. We don’t need more religion, we don’t need more gaudy television evangelists spewing out verbal religious garbage, we do not need more million dollar church buildings built while people’s basic needs are being ignored. We do need a change of heart and a humble acknowledgement that this nation was founded on the principle of simple trust in God.
“When my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he didn’t hesitate to pray in school, and I defy any law or politician to deny him that right. I challenge every young person in America and around the world to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School, prayer was brought back to our schools. Don’t let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your conscience and denies your God-given right to communicate with Him.
“And to those of you who would blame the NRA, I give to you a sincere challenge: dare to examine your own heart before you cast the first stone. My daughter’s death will not be in vain: the young people of this country will not allow that to happen. And remember that even a pawn in a master’s hand can accomplish much.”
Darrell Scott
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We ignore the warning of Darrell Scott at our peril, at the peril of our children. The students at Columbine, Sandy Hook, and all our schools remain defenseless unless we return to the Judeo-Christian values of our forefathers and instill them in our children. Sandy Hook may be just the beginning of an awakening. Sandy Hook might lead to sane gun control; resurgence of prayer permitted in our schools; better illicit drug laws; and reduction in violent movies, television shows, comic books, and games. Or, heaven forbid, not, for Congress focuses only on what they can see–guns, really only a small piece of these puzzling, horrible tragedies. Is our government bent on gun control or citizen control?
Who bears responsibility for the murders of these children at Sandy Hook? I believe we all do. In the name of human rights we have released many psychotic or near psychotic persons from psychiatric institutions, and they often now are not in therapy, remaining a threat to themselves or others. We teach the sights and sounds of brutal, violent behavior to our children as if such is normal and okay. We produce movies, TV shows, Internet activities, comic books, and games, using them to instill the seeds of inhuman behavior into those developing, susceptible brains. We give our boys and girls money to buy and play with these vehicles, thus encouraging them to learn techniques of future cruelty and destruction. This is no longer like the pretend cowboys and Indians of yesteryear. All one has to do to realize the effect of such “training” at a young age is to watch the You Tube video about Shahada. The Sandy Hook shooter had spent hours in room black-out isolation while playing his dangerous video games, prequels to the real thing. It did not take long for his stressed and susceptible brain to become unable in differentiating between reality and fantasy, the imagined images all too real for him.
Hollywood admitted to marketing violent movies to kids. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry informed us:
“American children watch an average of four hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today’s television programming is violent. Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may:
Become “immune” or numb to the horror of violence, Gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems, Imitate the violence they observe on television; and Identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers”
An article in Psychology Today concluded that violent video games increase aggression. Was the Sandy Hook murderer playing a video game in his head? Fox News reported
“Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe how playing video games might affect the brain. The results indicated that boys who played violent video games experienced changes in regions associated with cognitive function and emotional control.”
Violence in comic books also may have deleterious effects on young behavior. An abstract published by The National Center for Biotechnology Information stated,
“These data suggest that social information processing of relationally aggressive situations is influenced by violent comic books, even if the comic books do not contain themes of relational aggression.”
The vast majority of children do not become violent, even after being subjected to the above. But it only takes one unstable personality, especially if he is on drugs, to cross the line. In years past American families have had firearms and prayers in homes since this nation was born, yet we never saw the likes of Columbine and Sandy Hook. Indeed, children carried their hunting rifles to school, but now, as Charles Cooke also notes,
“Such attitudes would no doubt be regarded as alarming today, as unthinkable as the old — and true — slogan that ‘America grew up with a rifle in its hand…’”
Prayers, the family dinners, and a reverence for God are fast disappearing, replaced by TV, video games, divorce, and AK-47s. And then an isolated student is thrown onto the mix, a young man living in a family with no father at home, likely playing Assassin’s Creed on X-Box in the Sandy Hook school–the Perfect Storm. How many more Sandy Hooks must we endure? Read Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill by Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano. Our kids are learning that murder and massacres are exciting and pleasurable. There is a better way: go to Take the Challenge Now.
Final Note: In 2012 over 440 school-age children were shot in Chicago (with the strongest gun control laws in America), with 530 killed since 2008. The media do not publicize this.
Roses for Sandy Hook
