Blog 7 by Ruthie Heavrin

During sexual harassment awareness week, La Sierra University has a tradition of writing on plain white t-shirts so that they may be pinned up and shown for the remainder of the week. The shirts usually say things such as “Be Strong Women,” and “Just say no,” as if sexual harassment is a pinch of cocaine. During a campus fair, one of the clubs pestered me until I wrote on a shirt. “Fine,” I said then wrote in bold red lettering, “Rapists are people too.” My shirt is not meant to diminish the terrible tragedy that is rape and/or sexual harassment, but to allow the reader to experience a different point of view. Rape is evil, but that does not mean the rapist is. Mrs. Klebold is not making an excuse for her son Dylan in her piece, “I Will Never Know Why.” In fact, she is even describes her pain in realizing the fact that her son is justifiably a monster in the eyes of others. She writes, “I was obsessed with thoughts of the innocent children and the teacher who suffered because of Dylan's cruelty.” Klebold admits her son was cruel, but she also admits that he wasn't always that way. Dylan acted like any other teenager. He secluded himself in his room, gave short answers, wore his hair in a sloppy manner, and even made friends with someone the parents really don't trust. Top parenting books suggest to give teens their space and leave them alone. It's really no surprise that Klebold had no idea what thoughts were tracing through Dylan's mind. Since he already had a history of rebelling, storming his room and reading his journals seems like the last thing a mother wants to do. Klebolds piece is about awareness of suicide and the side effects that come with it. The simplicity of her writing makes this clear. Unlike me, she does not let her reader struggle and think for a meaning. She sets up the story by starting the beginning of her grief. I feel this is a wide choice because it grabs the reader. Just like looky-loos on the freeway, the reader wants to get to the point. Klebold sets the mood of fear and confusion from the beginning and carries that to the end because she still has confusion and fear many years later. Her honesty of not knowing, of experiencing guilt, of mistrusting herself all come clear in the tone. The point of view Klebold chose to write from is flattering to her style and voice. She could have written a work that excusesd Dylan, but the piece is about her, not Dylan. She also could have given the families of the victims what they wanted and claim that her son is a monster, but that's not her truth. To her, Dylan was her son who she loved and thought she was doing a favor when she left him alone. As writers, we can learn from Klebold to be honest and write what is true to ourselves even if it is not what the popular choice is at the end of the day.