tkt8763-01: FYI: (Long) Reflective article re: the messages (fwd)

["Larry S. Anderson -- NCTP" <lsa1@ra.msstate.edu>]

Perhaps some of you will want to send a message through Terrie's site, if
you haven't already.  Just for the record, it is a high personal honor and
thrill to call Terrie Gray me personal friend!  What a huge positive
difference she is making in this world, this society!

Thanks to Kate Roberts for sending this to me.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 1 May 1999 19:38:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: Kate M. Roberts <kmr4@Ra.MsState.Edu>
To: lsa1@Ra.MsState.Edu
Subject: FYI: (Long) Reflective article re: the messages (fwd)

FYI

Subject: FYI: (Long) Reflective article re: the messages

Hi. I sent this to a couple of papers today as a way to say thanks to
everyone. Thought you might want to see it too. tg



------


Two years ago I was teaching junior high English and science and
attending graduate school when my career took an unexpected turn .
AT&T's Learning Network funded my proposal to create and manage a web
site for helping teachers use the Internet. Since then, I've been
working with volunteer staff from across the country to recommend
resources and to support teachers' online participation in our project,
ED's Oasis.
[<underline><color><param>0000,0000,00FF</param>http://www.edsoasis.org</color></underline>
]


While we haven't been able to accomplish everything we'd hoped to, we
were fairly pleased with our work, that is, until we heard about the
shooting at Columbine High School April 20. Suddenly, our efforts to
"help teachers" seemed trivial. None of our links, lesson plans, or
articles would ease the shock or grief those teachers were
experiencing. 


Through a series of phone calls, we explored ways we could use the web
site to reach out to members of our online community and invite them to
help us support our colleagues in Littleton.  A little before 7 p.m.
Tuesday evening, we contacted artist Stefanie Eskander, who agreed to
create a commemorative graphic. She got the image to us later that
evening and we assembled a new front page for our web site.  Then we
posted the following message online and awaited the results: 


"The tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, has
touched us deeply. We invite you to take a moment to share your
thoughts at ED's Oasis. We've changed the front page and linked to an
online form to make it easy for you.  If you'd like to send a message
to staff members or share how you've helped your students cope in
grief-filled times, please go to http://www.edsoasis.org   We will send
your reflections to those in Littleton, and post them on the site."


By the next morning, we'd received about 20 messages. By noon, we'd
gotten  100. Then the Excite search engine's news tracker
<underline><color><param>0000,0000,00FF</param>www.excite.com</color></underline>
 and Pacific Bell's Blue Web'n
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/    education  site posted
links to us - and the floodgates opened. By Sunday, we had received 500
messages. By April 27, one week after the massacre, more than 1500
messages had come in. And they're still coming in, although the rate
has dropped significantly. 


We were astonished not only by the number of messages received, but by
their geographical origin. People from every state in the US,
Washington, D.C., and from 17 other countries managed to find our web
site and had taken time to write.


Even more incredible was the content of the messages. As one would
expect, those received in the first days after the shooting were filled
with expressions of shock, horror, sorrow, and dismay. But other, more
important themes emerged. Nearly everyone who wrote included these two
sentiments:


<fontfamily><param>Symbol</param>       …</fontfamily><fontfamily><param>Arial</param>
</fontfamily>You are not alone: your grief is our grief. We are here
for you.

<fontfamily><param>Symbol</param>       …</fontfamily><fontfamily><param>Arial</param>
</fontfamily>Have faith. We will pray for you. 


Adults authored most of the messages sent the first few days. Then it
was clear that teachers were telling their students about the site and
inviting them to send in their thoughts.  At that point, both students
and adults seemed to be trying to find a way to express their
understanding - however limited - of what the students, teachers, and
parents were experiencing in Littleton. 

Parents told of losing their children to illness, auto accidents, or
violence; students described how upset they were when a friend or
relative committed suicide; administrators reflected on how students'
deaths affected everyone in a school; and young children remembered how
sad they were when their pets died. Everyone was extending the message
"We are like you. We understand."


Some of the messages were intensely personal. It was both humbling and
overwhelming to be trusted with these heart-felt narratives. One
student wrote that she knew what the Columbine students were thinking
during the shooting because her dad had tried to kill her and her
family last year. She remembered crouching in her hiding place and
thinking, "Am I next?" Like the teacher from Canada whose fiancée had
been shot and killed last year at school, this girl encouraged the
Columbine students to believe that they could get through the terror of
April 20. "I'm still here, aren't I? You can do it too," she wrote.

 

We were pleased to receive comforting messages from residents of Pearl,
Mississippi, Padukah, Kentucky, Oregon, Scotland, and Australia --
sites of previous school shootings. Someone wrote in from Oklahoma City
to commiserate and to affirm that it was possible to reconstruct both
strong buildings and a healthy community. 


Once media coverage began focusing on memorial services and stories of
individual students, the nature of the messages changed. Writers began
to be more reflective, and to examine how they would act in similar
circumstances. Teachers asked themselves if they would be as courageous
as Coach Sanders. Students confessed that they were frightened, that
they realized that this event "could happen anywhere," and they
wondered if they could trust their classmates. But they also told how
the shooting was already having a positive effect at their schools by
sharing reports of candle-light vigils, prayer services, and safety
drills.


After a week had passed, the messages became longer, and-if
possible-even more personal. There was a new purpose in writing. Most
messages still conveyed the universal themes described above, but they
also contained a commitment. Educators, parents, and business people
pledge that they will be part of the solution. They commit themselves
to reaching out to their own children, to their students, and to their
neighbors. They encourage others to be more involved at home and on
legislation, particularly on gun control.  They are determined to honor
the memory of those killed at Columbine High School by making the world
a better place through positive individual action.  They vow that the
15 dead shall not have died in vain. 


I was asked by a reporter, in a phone interview,  if anyone in
Littleton had sent in a message and had to answer, "No." Although I
have friends and relatives there who are helping us complete our
objective of delivering these messages to their intended recipients, it
hasn't happened yet. But it will. And, after the intense media
attention is diminished, the series of memorial services complete, and
the reorganization of the schools accomplished, perhaps the community
affected by the Columbine shooting will be ready to receive them. 


Originally, we thought it was those educators we were helping. But it
turned out that we accomplished something else, we-like others
providing similar services - were able to offer the global community an
 "opportunity to express our own grief and to reach out to our
counterparts at Columbine." Since we acknowledged all messages which
included valid email addresses, we sometimes got a "you're welcome"
response. One person wrote: 

        "I just felt that I had to do something....I have been so very sad
about all of this and feel so helpless! Letting the community of
Littleton know that

we are ALL here for them and feel their sadness was a way to express
my

feelings! I just wish that I could do more!  Thank you for allowing us
the privilege of using your web site!"


The reporter also asked if I thought the Internet itself was to blame
for the shooting. After all, the gunmen had allegedly used the Web to
learn how to make their bombs and their Web site to spread a message of
hate. This time I was glad to answer, "No." The Internet, like the
telephone, is a neutral communications tool. People provide the
content. People determine whether the message is uplifting or
downgrading. At ED's Oasis, we learned that the Internet can be used to
facilitate positive connections between people from all over the world.
How else could teachers from Malaysia, New York, South Africa, and
Nebraska offer support for their colleagues in a Colorado suburb?


Reading and screening 1600+ messages, and editing a selection of them
to publish online was not easy. It took almost every waking minute for
more than a week. Sometimes the stories or the poetry were so emotional
that it was hard to continue. But we're grateful that we were able to
do this. It has been an honor. And, we are even more convinced than
ever that while some people do terrible things to others, most people
are unselfish, compassionate, and desire to do good works. It has been
a privilege to receive these messages, and has felt like we've been
able to converse with 1600 noble individuals from around the world.

 

To the community of Littleton, Colorado, we offer our sincere sympathy,
and to the global community we extend our deepest appreciation for
their participation in this effort. 


Thank you,


Terrie Gray, Ed. D.

Paradise, CA

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