Posted on 09/17/2010 4:38:57 PM PDT by re_tail20
As another school shooting rocks Littleton, Colorado, Dave Cullen reveals the secret meeting of Eric Harris' parents with his victims' kin—offering a rare glimpse into how they saw their son.
It’s been nearly 11 years since the Columbine tragedy rocked the nation, and the largest remaining questions center on the killers’ parents: Did they see it coming? Why do they think it happened? How did the tragedy affect them? Do they feel remorse? Have they expressed it to the victims?
Sue Klebold finally addressed those questions last October in an essay in O Magazine. But her son Dylan was the junior partner in the attack. Eric Harris was the mastermind, and his parents have never spoken publicly. But it turns out they secretly met with two victims’ families, who quietly but diligently pursued contact for years. The existence of those meetings—one of which is recounted in detail here—has never before been reported.
Tom and Linda Mauser’s son Daniel was shot to death by Eric in the Columbine library. Last summer, the couple finally met Eric’s parents. The meeting took years to arrange. It began in 2007, with an angry letter from Tom Mauser. He and Linda had chosen not to take part in lawsuits many of their peers leveled against the Harrises and Klebolds. But they were just as hungry for answers. Eventually, Tom's frustration boiled over. All those years and he still didn’t know how the boys got away with it. And resentment had set in: Why hadn’t the parents reached out more? So he set down some pointed questions. That approach failed. The Harrises declined to meet, though their attorney provided some answers.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
“I wonder if either of these boys were ever given Ritalin or any other drug like that.”
Paxil, I think.
The article said that at least one of the boys was on anti-depressants.
I don’t blame the parents.
Some people are just crazy. It doesn’t always follow that their parents made them that way.
Of course if they were abused or neglected, I’d feel the parents were at least partly to blame. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I oppose the use of psychotropic drugs on kids in this manner, but I think that was an error in judgment, not malicious evil.
We all want someone to blame. Blame Dylan and Eric. They did it.
Zoloft is an antidepressant; I’ve been on it - believe me, it’s nothing like Ritalin.
Thanks....your post explains a lot!
Scary, isn’t it? When I was working on my master’s degree, the professors repeatedly told us that in order to be an effective therapist I had to hold the belief that everyone is inherently good. They used that exact wording! I will never believe that all humans are inherently good, and I think subscribing to that belief does a great disservice to many of those who do seek counseling.
There were more involved than just Harris and Klebold. Read the eyewitness statements:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/columbineeight.php
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