Is It Just Me or Is It Getting Crazier Out There?

On April 20, 1999, two high school seniors walked into Columbine High School armed with 9mm firearms and 12 gauge shotguns and multiple explosive devices to murder 12 students and a teacher. The two wrote their intentions explicitly on a public blog and in creative writing assignments. They also both wrote of planning an attack privately in journals. “You don’t really listen, do you.”

After the Columbine Shooting where two outcasts shot up the people who made fun of them, there was a mood shift in the country. The conversation focused on bullying and its ill affects on our society. There was a palpable fear that copycat shootings might take place and people wanted to understand the cause of the tragedy.

For a while, everyone wanted to act nice, if only superficially, to everyone. Even the weird loner kids that made you nervous. You know, the ones that gave off a hinky vibe. But time moved on. And like most moods and phases, we forgot about our fears and went back to our natural state. And for some, that meant bullying the freaks.

High school never ends. It’s not just the wimpy kid getting shoved into a locker after exposing the insecurities of the jocks when he gets all the answers correct in Algebra class. This could be a man with a mental illness laughing hysterically on the subway train while three Wall Street brokers harass a woman simply trying to get home… Or was his laughing uncontrollable?