Targets

Author's Note: Instead of doing a Character Development piece on a character, I chose someone from real life. This is my character development piece on the motives and behaviors of Dylan Klebold, main shooter in the Columbine High School Shootings.

Dylan Klebold was born into a life representing a target. A smooth, flawless target. Anticipating. The. Bullets.  Each bullet that Dylan's life was hit with resembles change and decisions. Each bullet transformed  Dylan into an unrecognizable monster. Each bullet gradually got closer and closer to a bulls-eye. Dylan shot the bulls-eye, and instead of receiving a trophy, the decisions he made in his life sprang off of the target and collided with his soul.

The first major bullet that Dylan was hit with was when Dylan completely remodeled himself and created an ireful, violent person  too out of control to tame.  Dylan's childhood was filled with baseball, soccer, Cub Scouts, friends, and the fact that he knew his family loved him (Shepard, Dylan Bennet Klebold). He moved onto high school, still with a very positive personality… Dylan was active in the school play and spent time making videos for a news network with his friends.  Next door neighbors even claim that the Klebold household was a picture perfect family. Dylan attended the prom with a friend, talked about what his life might be like at the University of Arizona, and had a seemingly good time. He gradually fell into depression and unhappiness, and neither of Dylan's parents cared enough to notice his sadness.  Who doesn’t notice their son writing “Anyway... I was Mr. Cutter tonight - I have 11 depressioners on my right hand now…” (Shepard, Dylan's Journals)? Dylan's attitude changed completely after that night, from swearing at teachers, being suspended from school  for hacking into the school's computer system, blowing up pipe bombs behind his work, and shouting "Heil Hitler!" when he rolled a good ball in bowling (Shepard, Dylan Bennet Klebold). Dylan is one of the most dynamic people that this world will ever know, and in this event, the effects weren't worth changing for.

”I am GOD compared to some of these un-existable, brainless zombies” (Shepard, Dylan's Journals).

The next bullet that Dylan's target was splintered with was his disrespect towards people he didn’t like, the human race, and life in general.  Looking at the quote above, some might notice the fact that Dylan refers to himself as a “GOD”, but the first thing I notice, is that Dylan uses the term “un-existable,  brainless zombies” to speak of humans.  Take a moment if you need… embrace…comprehend...accept. Hm-hm… Dylan Klebold refers to humans as brainless zombies! Dylan’s mother, Susan, grew up in a prominent Jewish community, and although neither Dylan nor I have necessarily practiced the Jew religion, I’m pretty sure almost every, if not all, religions in the world supports life.  How Dylan, living in a positive community with positive influences, came to have thoughts such as these… I am at a loss of ideas.

One of the last bullets that hit Dylan’s target, was his admiration for Hitler. Sad enough, I can see how Dylan revered Adolf Hitler—honestly, their lives, childhood in particular, were almost exactly the same. Both started with very positive elementary school experiences, and their academic futures were seemingly bright (Spartacus Educational).  They both were liked and fairly popular amongst their peers. Something life changing happened in each event… Dylan’s is still unknown to the world, but Adolf Hitler was pressured by competition in his school, and pressured by the attitude of his father who was planning on Hitler following his example of joining the Austrian civil service when he left school. Then, Hitler lost his popularity with other students as they weren’t willing to accept Hitler as a fellow leader, and resulting in this action, Hitler found interest in bossing around younger kids to try and gain respect. Similar to Dylan, Hitler then found a time of enjoyment of violence, as Hitler’s favorite game soon became re-enacting battles from the Boer War. Both men didn’t like their teachers in school, and Hitler also had the stress and burden of his father’s death when he was thirteen.

Strike one. Dylan, you created this angered soul too powerful to turn away from. You had control of the situation. You.

Strike two. Dylan, you didn’t find the love, the happiness, the rewards in life to become careless about not only yourself, but the other lives, the other souls who deserved a chance in life. You could have given them that chance. You.

Strike three. Dylan, you found admiration and understanding in a man who had done such harm to the world, was so psychopathic, had invented a choleric alien. You could have turned away. You.

You’re out.

Bibliography

Shepard, C. Dylan Bennet Klebold. 21 April 1999. 12 November 2012. <http://acolumbinesite.com/dylan.html>.

—. Dylan's Journals. 21 April 1999. 20 November 2012. <http://acolumbinesite.com/dylan/writing/journal/journal4.html>.

Spartacus Educational. n.d. 27 November 2012.