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Many people may remember one fateful Tuesday, April 20, 1999, the event at an ordinary high school in Littleton, Colorado. The Columbine shootings will go down in the record books, as well as in the hearts of many, as one of the worst school shootings in history. What many people may not remember is the story of Cassie Bernall, a 17-year-old junior at Columbine High. She was a typical student having an ordinary day. With one single word that she said on that tragic Tuesday, the life of Cassie Bernall, and her courage in the face of death, has sparked a debate that is still going on to this day. As two of her own classmates went through the school killing people, they reached Cassie Bernall hiding in the library. Cassie Bernall was a teenager on the wrong path. She was, “rebellious and interested in Wicca and witchcraft,” (Cummins) though she was a re-born Christian, Cassie will be remembered for saying only one word -- a word that will be used forever to illustrate the courage and compassion of a young girl confronted with a choice between love and hate, good and evil. With this one word Cassie changed the lives of millions of people, Christian and Non-Christian alike. I am one of those people that have been impacted in many ways by her story. Her story is one of faith, courage, force, hope, and forgiveness. The one word that Cassie will be forever remembered by is, YES. With this one simple word she has changed countless lives. As her two classmates found her visibly praying while she was hiding in the library they approached her and asked “Do you believe in God?" One of the other students in the library quoted: With her life on the line, she paused, like she didn't know what she was going to answer, and then she said yes. She must have been scared, but her voice didn't sound shaky. It was strong. Then they asked her why, though they didn't give her a chance to respond. They just blew her away. (Murray Zoba) That story was soon disputed. One story claimed that this encounter between Cassie and the gunmen never happened at all. Another verson of the story said that it did happen, but not to Cassie, instead it happened to another classmate who was also killed. Yet another verson claimed that Cassie did give some kind of witness to her killers, but not exactly in the manner that I just described. Whatever the case, the story of Cassie’s life and death can be used as a learning tool for generations to come. There is also a powerful irony in her story that shouldn't be missed. The two young students who killed her had cause for their bitterness. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were unpopular outcasts, lonely rejects, considered "losers" by their peers. This experience drove them to an anger and hatred so deep that it eventually led to mass murder and suicide. Cassie Bernall, by her own description of herself, wasn't much different. She was also an outsider, lonely, "a loser without a date for the prom" (Bernall 43). And indeed, at a point in her life, she was strongly tempted to the same kind of anger, hatred, and bitterness as her killers. Yet, how different her life ended from theirs. Her killers died angry, hysterical, mad with rage. She died loving, even as she could taste the exact same loneliness as her killers. As many have rushed to call her a martyr the title has been heavily disputed. I will disscuss Cassie’s journey to that fateful day and some of the issues surrounding this debate in hopes that we can all come to a better understanding of what Cassie’s life and death can be catagorized as or if it is even moral to try and catagorize such a thing as a human life.
Approximate Word count = 2458
Approximate Pages = 9.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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