Today must be significant

Today is March 5, 2009, the anniversary of the 2001 Santana shooting. Santana High School was my high school, but it happened two years before I went there. I knew many people who were affected by this rampage. From friends who had guns in their faces, running terrified all over campus, to teachers, who whenever the topic was addressed, spoke of bullying like lions because they whole heartedly knew the results of such actions. These people who came to affect my life had theirs affected too, watching students and coworkers bleed, and even die.

But more importantly is why this even had to happen.

Freshman Charles Andrew Williams was a transfer student to Santana in 2000, and like any other teenager, he was eager to be accepted, to have friends. To his dismay, he did not find friends, but found bullies. With every crowd he wanted to be involved with, he only found taunting and rejection. He went from group to clique to group to find someone who would accept him. He eventually was accepted by a few, but the teasing continued.

A few weeks before, Andy was talking with some friends about bringing a gun to high school and shooting people. His friends didn't take him seriously; they thought it was just a joke. Apparently he kept joking about it, even up to the weekend before the shooting, asking his friend if he wanted to join him. Once again, it was only taken as a joke. On Monday, at 9:20 AM, Andy came out of the bathrooms and began shooting at innocent bystanders in the quad, with a smile on his face. Andy told a psychiatrist what went through his head before it happened. He was in the bathroom, loading the gun, asking himself if he should really do it. He rationalized to himself that if he didn't do it, the teasing wouldn't stop.

Because of this, Randy Gordon and Brian Zuchor, ages 15 and 14 respectively, were shot and killed, along with 13 others who were shot.

And what really makes this a tragedy?

It could've been stopped.

If others would be a friend, be understanding, be kind, be available.

The teasing of others pushed him over the edge, pushed him to where he felt that he couldn't take it anymore. It's so sad that this could've been prevented.

What I'm getting at isn't that it wasn't Andy's fault, he definitely had control over his actions. But we now have a choice. A choice to learn from the mistakes that were made before us. Do we go on in our merry little lives, ignoring that this happened, refusing to see the results of our actions against others? Or do we work to create a world of love and refuge? Think about this today, as families remember and mourn for the loss of sons, brothers, friends.

Remember the Santana shooting.