I have to say that the impact of the killings did not really hit me for the first tow weeks. I was kind of detached from it, and it seemed like just another news story, maybe a bit more sensational than others.
But then I came to Denver this week. The other night, I went to the park next to Columbine High School. This was more than two weeks after the killings, but the park was filled with rows and rows of flowers and notes and signs and stuffed animals that people had left in an attempt to pay tribute to the victims. You could look on it all as a bunch of tacky junk, but it brought me to tears. Thousands and thousands of people had gone to that park and left at least a small token behind, in answer to their feeling that they had to do something to respond to the tragedy.
The killings were an awful thing, and I think I'm now beginning to understand just how awful. The hysteria that has resulted in our schools is also something terrible. The simple memorials that people left behind in the park are a reminder to us all that there is also a lot of good in humanity. I hope that our response to this tragedy will make us all a little better.
-Joe Offer-