Pround 2011 Graduate
of Columbine High School

Last weekend I had the privileg of attending my nephew’s graduation in Littleton, Co. from Columbine High School. The weather was great, sunny and nice and the awards and graduation ceremony went well. As the class motto they chose this quote from Dr. Seuss: “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those ho mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”

My nephew was just a kid during the Columbine tragedy. Life was torn about in Littleton but life went on and now the memory of the death of students and teachers is faded as new memories take their place.

You can learn a lot about a school by attending its senior award program and its graduation. There were many speeches, slide shows, songs and awards but they all point to a healthy, ordinary, all American suburban high school. Perhaps this ordinary suburban school, made the massacre at Columbine in 1999 so extraordinary.

My nephew’s class of 2011 was the recipient of many awards and compliments. Perhaps the greatest one was they broke the tradition of trashing the school on the last day and just marched out triumphal. What they did not do, trash the school, seemed as important as what they did.

I look back at this weekend with family and friends celebrating as, like the weather, sunny and bright. However, some dark tragedy lurks in the shadows, a horrible violence that must be faced or it will rise up again. I wish all the Columbine graduates enjoy a life like Graduation day, full of beauty, bright and cheerful. But I know that if they are true to who they are there will be tragedies in life. Hopefully how they face them will be like the high school did: rise from the ruins and shine in the sun. May the spirit of the Columbine class of 2011 live on in all our lives.

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