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Littleton
(Columbine High School) Commentary
by Karen Martin
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How do we understand the recent
events at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado?
we perhaps could arrive at strategies or principles that would
guide us in the future so that such things would not happen again...or
at least would begin to occur less and less instead of what is
seemingly the case: that they occur more and more.
I have pondered whether such rageful outbreaks have always
happened and whether it is my age that makes me more aware of
them...or whether the ever remarkable improvements in modern
technology and the media's coverage are just bringing all of
this more to the surface so that there is the illusion of an
increase in these horrific events. I also wonder whether the
availability of weaponry is a factor.
And I find myself thinking routinely about the effect of all
the violent video games and movies that seem to have become our
main fare as a culture. Killing, maiming, abuse, sadistic depictions,
rape, and power and violence are either what we as a culture
crave most...which is why movie producers and television producers
and videogame creators are selecting these as dominant themes....or
in some strange, inexplicable twist, we are being fed these themes
with the purpose of having them become dominant in us.
That seems to be stretching it, I guess. But it does seem
at times that producers of goods don't have a vested interest
in what they produce, only whether people buy..
So, as I let you into what is going on in my mind, it becomes
readily apparent that I don't have any answers. I am as confused
and as alarmed as I imagine most of you are. In fact, as I hope
most of you are -- confused, that is. The danger, it seems to
me, is to decide too quickly that we know the answer to such
a complicated phenomenon.
I am in an advanced psychoanalytic training program, and on
Friday the entire class focused the entire time on the question
of how we understand these devastating multiple, seemingly senseless
occurences of violence. It is not what we had been assigned to
discuss, but everyone in the class, including the instructor,
was so affected by the events at Littleton that we just couldn't
get to our assigned task.
All I can tell you about the discussion we had is that we
were all, even though supposedly quite learned, as confused and
uncertain as I imagine all of you are or as, in my opinion, you
ought to be. This is a very complicated issue. We can gain the
most, I think, by not deciding we understand when we don't.
What I think, though, is that
it has something to do with some kids not feeling that they are
important or meaningful to themselves or to others, kids feeling
that life itself is somehow not meaningful.
It used to be, when I was a kid, I think ( look how tentative
I am being) that even at the worst times I had the sense that
there was some "ideal" out there that was important.
I see in retrospect that a lot of what I thought was ideal was
really an illusion--this is a painful learning that comes with
age. Still, much of what I thought was good, was worth striving
for, has stood the test of time. There was something about being
able to believe in an "ideal" that was important....that
made a difference...that made me strive....that made life have
meaning.
Today's kids, I think, can't find anyone who can stand for
an "ideal," whether illusory or not. And unfortunately
adults are most often caught up in a kind of pursuit of happiness
that is manifested by monetary worth, by how many gadgets we
own and can buy....we decide how "good" or "smart"
or "worthwhile" we are by how much money we make, where
we live, and what we own.
they have nothing to emulate in us as "seemingly successful
adults." And those of us who adopt these values are not
really gratified either....and our kids can feel this in us.
It seems to me that most of
us adults have lost ourselves.....we have become disconnected
from a kind of "value" or "life meaning"
that transcends how everybody else sees us....I think we are
all feeling kind of meaningless. As adults this mainly gets expressed
by a kind of boredom, or mild sense of not being very charmed
by life....but as adolescents this gets experienced and expressed
as a kind of desperate search for meaning on the one hand or
a kind of rageful rejection of life on the other.
- These are just thoughts.
- I don't have answers.
- Write
to us if you want to:
- let's see if we can't bring all of our thoughts together....
- at least we'll be discussing what seems most real,
- and perhaps together, we can approach
an understanding.
Karen
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