April 20, 1999 is a scar on the American psyche almost as horrible as 9-11 itself. On that day, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold enterred the suburban Columbine High School of Littleton, Colorado and killed students and teachers. From the first moments to this very day people have been struggling to explain the tragedy/massacre. At the time, the prominent geek newsite Slashdot ran a series of articles called "Voices from the Hellmouth" (1, 2, 3) blaming the massacre on the unrelenting bullying that freaks, geeks, and the unpopular suffer in the culture of the modern high school. Others blamed Columbine on the ease with which guns can be obtained in the USA, but Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine made the point that it was just as easy to link bowling - the activity the pair did the morning before the massacre - to the tragedy as it was guns themselves. Others saw it as a spiritual issue, especially the parents of Cassie Bernall who wrote a book portraying her daughter as a martyr for dying a the hands of the killers after professing faith in God. Columbine - despite relentless analysis and second-guessing - has persistently defied explanation.
Now, the FBI has released their analysis of the two killers which brings perhaps the most dispassionate and measured look at the incident to date. The report begins by noting that despite the fact that the tragedy involved guns and occurred on school property, Columbine does not fit the normal profile for a "school shooting." Since Columbine, we have seen many other school shooters who do fit the profile: they are impulsive loners, who tend to go on a brief spree (sometimes shooting only one person), and then surrender when their conscience catches up with them. Compare this to Columbine where the shooters meticulously planned the attack for a year in advance, set up bombs, purchased large numbers of weapons and ammunition, and only gave up in the end when all other options had been closed off. And even then committed suicide in a dispassionate way. The report indicates that Klebold and Harris were very different boys. Klebold was a depressive kid - hotheaded, despairing, and suicidal. Harris on the other hand was a psychopath with a Nietzsche-like hatred of anyone he considered to be "inferior." Klebold, they conclude, might have been saved, but Harris was a ticking time bomb. Likewise, it appears that these two provided the ideal conditions for the development of a Columbine-type incident: Klebold's hot-head and unrelenting depression kept Harris focussed and motivated while Harris's cool head kept Klebold from acting prematurely. Klebold and Harris saw themselves as the logical successors to Timothy McVeigh - they even originally planned the massacre for the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing. They wanted to go down in history as terrorists of the highest caliber.
The report is a reminder that 9-11 was not the first major terrorist incident of this generation. It is unimagineable that two boys with no ideological impetus, and no real revenge to take would plan and carry out this kind of terror attack. Yet it happened. It is yet another reminder to us that evil is real and that not every criminal action can be explained by self-interest or mental disturbance. It is both simple and mind-bogglingly complex at the same time: Klebold and Harris glorified in the evil of their souls. There were two possible salvations for these two: (1) a strong physical force in the form of police or parents willing to restain them until a treatment could be found, or (2) a spiritual renewal in the form of Jesus Christ. It is to our shame that neither the forces of order, nor the forces of salvation managed to reach these two before they chose the path to Hell.
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