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November 26, 2009
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Home > 2000 > April 3Christianity Today, April 3, 2000  |   |  
Columbine's Tortuous Road to Healing
One year later, survivors' recovery is filled with painful twists and turns.




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So the healing process moves on, jagged though it may be. "We're searching for answers," says Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis. "What drives people to do what Eric and Dylan did? People have asked me that and I don't have the answers. When people ask 'Are you getting back to some normalcy?' I tell them: We'll never be normal again at Columbine High School. The scars that we've experienced will be with us for the rest of our lives.

"We start taking some steps forward and all of a sudden an event will happen and we're forced to take a giant step backward—like the shooting of the two Columbine students, high school sweethearts, at the Subway on Valentine's Day."

Matt Bruce, a junior at Columbine and friend of Rachel Scott, sometimes fears that his generation will be remembered as "the generation of the shootings." But, he says, "That isn't how our generation will be remembered. Our generation will be remembered as the generation of the faith. We will be remembered for overcoming these and for making the world an awesome place."

"In the midst of everything, I lost hope in a lot of things, but God wasn't one of them," says Sarah Arzola, a Columbine senior and a friend of Rachel Scott. "I would always think that it would be hard to stay close to God and still love God if something like this were to happen to you. At first, when we were hearing person after person that died, one thing that most of them had in common is that they were Christians. When I would hear about another Christian that died, I just thought, 'God didn't take anybody that wasn't ready to go.' That gave me some peace."

Related Elsewhere

ChristianityToday.com's coverage of the Columbine shootings includes:

Videos of Hate | Columbine killers harbored anti-Christian prejudice (Jan. 26, 2000)
Retailers Marketing Martyrdom to Teens | Littleton Massacre Now Merchandise Opportunity (Nov. 12, 1999)
Cassie Said Yes, They Said No | The mainstream press unquestioningly accepted Salon.com's flimsy 'debunking' of the Columbine confession. (Nov. 1, 1999)
'Do You Believe in God?' | Columbine and the stirring of America's soul. (Oct. 4, 1999)
Tough Love Saved Cassie | How the Bernalls helped Cassie break with old friends and build a new life. (Oct. 4, 1999)
Yancey: Can Good Come Out of This Evil? (June 14, 1999)

For the latest and continuing coverage of the Columbine tragedy and other school violence, see The Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News, Boulder's The Daily Camera, and Yahoo!'s full coverage on school violence.


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