Columbine Remembered.

It is 10 years since the tragedy at Columbine. Lives were changed that day forever.

This piece evolved soon after the Columbine massacre. The emotions were overwhelming for me as a mother of teenagers when I heard about this tragedy and out of my need to make sense of the sadness I created this piece. I have never published this artwork before but feel it is timely 10 years on to still remember and hope change has come.

The 3 pieces of paper represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit forming one body. The paper is rough and uneven representing the ups and downs, trials and tribulations we encounter on our journey through life. The red apple/heart shape has several meanings, the apple reference is for the teacher who died and the heart is for the love and caring he received from those students around him in his last hours. The apple/heart has a band uniform collar which represents the good that can come from team work. The Littleton bow tie represents the community coming together. The 13 teardrops represent the 13 people who were slaughtered. The pool of tears and the drops represent the “Veil of Tears” from the prayer in reference to all the sorrow felt. On the lower edge of the apple/heart is a pool of the blood spilled. On the apple/heart the words Revenge and Violence represent the 2 gunmen. The apple/heart is surrounded by the names of all the victims.

We truly need to raise our children to be caring, tolerant and respectful of others.

Bullying should not be tolerated, neither should revenge. It is our responsibility as adults and parents to treat our children with respect and not to ignore them or treat them as property. What these young men did cannot be condoned and I am a little tired of the epidemic of victimstance, but we all have a responsibility to make everyone feel they are a valued member of society and I see all too often a rash of self absorbed one-upmanship. I live in a community not dissimilar to Littleton and I hear from my children about the general atmosphere in the middle and high school, it is almost encouraged as a writ of passage that the stereotypical behaviours are pursued. I have heard first hand how some of the faculty and support staff speak to these teenagers, it would make me resentful. Teenagers need respect; I cannot emphasize that enough.