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TEENS' FUTURE

Janet DePalma.
Published: Saturday, April 22, 2000
Section: Commentary
Page: 18

In reading Emily Sachs' letter about high school harassment, I was both sympathetic to and appalled by her point of view. Yes, millions of children, past and present, have been burdened by the taunts and harassment of their peers. Yes, those children have been betrayed by adults in positions of responsibility, who fail to stop uncivilized behavior. I applaud Emily's efforts to rise above the daily gauntlet. I know how much effort that it takes, because I was one of the kids on the outside in high school.

I was appalled that she seemed to imply that she "got" the decisions made by Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. With sincerity, she asserted that guns and bombs may kill the body, while harassment kills the soul, which in her opinion is far worse. I would like to share with her something she does not seem to know yet:

Emily, when you graduate from high school, you will have the rest of your life to find like-minded friends, a family of your own, a job that gratifies you and happiness. There is a long life ahead of you, during which the most astonishing things can happen. Klebold and Harris took that promise away from their classmates. Teasing can seem impossible to bear, but it is never an excuse or justification for killing.

I still don't "get it," and I never will.

Copyright 2000, The Tribune Company. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. The Tribune Company archives are stored on a SAVE (tm) newspaper library system from MediaStream, Inc., a Knight-Ridder Inc. company.





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