Even more thoughts on Columbine

            So last week some immature brick head decided to be a tool and write “Columbine” on the bathroom wall or something. Who even does that? Honestly this kid probably has no idea what Columbine even is, I heard he was a freshman. This was definitely one of those what the bleep moments everyone has when someone does something dumb. They were even considering taking down the book from the curriculum for future years too because of the incident. But while on the topic of the possibility of the book being removed from the curriculum, I think that it is important to weigh the pros and the cons. I feel like the book is really informative and non-censoring because it shows one of the horrible events that have happened in the past. I doubt anyone in their junior year of high school would be really disillusioned or anything of the sort because violence happens everyday, however, the book still is very freeing in that it does not sugar coat anything to make it less horrifying. Of course the con of reading the book would be that it may not be pleasant for some readers because of its violent descriptions. Though, I’m pretty sure that any high school student would be able to handle it. I feel like whether or not the book is in the school curriculum does not really matter much, because it is either we read it for the information and discuss it or we don’t. The book is a nonfiction book, and we as students usually read fiction books, so I feel like breaking away from the old way may be good. The group discussions about the book have certainly been anything but slow or boring. Also, I and a couple others have not had any previous knowledge regarding the school shooting, so I think that reading the book is very informative for us.

Additional thoughts on Columbine

            I wonder if schools have really made much of an improvement since Columbine because I really do not notice much of a difference in the ways schools work before and after the incident. Most schools, at least from the ones that I have been to, do not have metal detectors so I really wonder how we could have made an improvement if a kid walks into a school with a gun tucked into his or her pants. To compare this to another situation, airport security has definitely made an improvement, perhaps even to the point of being called paranoid, about catching bombers. In both cases, whether it is in a school or an airport, lives can possibly be in danger, so why is it that schools are not as strict as airports? Perhaps it takes into account trust toward the students. Maybe schools simply trust that their students would not go as far as to bring a gun to school, even though it has already been done. Using the internet to research how many shootings have taken place after Columbine, I found that there have been sixty three. I think that this number is just way too high, and it makes me question what exactly schools are doing about the situation. However, whatever is being done, I personally do not think schools need to be very strict about bringing weapons to school (to the extent of having students searched every day for weapons), but I feel as though schools are not doing enough to prevent possible shootings in the future. Perhaps metal detectors should be required to be installed in all school entrances as a safety precaution. But, now I wonder if having metal detectors in school will provoke dangerous students to bring weapons to school in some sort of act of rebellion.

General Thoughts on Columbine

While reading the book, I noticed a general aspect about society that I have not given much thought about before. People generally need some sort of a culprit or scapegoat to blame a disaster on to feel secure about the world. In this case, there were two seemingly normal boys who were behind a mass murder of a high school. People needed to know who was to blame, whether it was there parents or some sort of mental problems. I see that people cannot accept the idea of two completely normal and functional people carrying out such a horrible deed without reason. It seems like people do not like what is unpredictable because they want to be prepared for everything. I myself am also confused as to what triggered Eric and Dylan to do such a thing. There is much evidence that shows the possibility of Eric being a psychopath, and Dylan was simply depressed. But what confuses me is how Eric appeared to be such a normal person if he really was a psychopath. I read that psychopaths are masters of manipulating others with lies, so maybe Eric faked his personality? I also find it strange that Dylan chose to follow Eric and join in the shooting if he was depressed. He seemed to lean towards self blame and self loathing rather than blaming others, and I wonder what could have caused this sudden blame shift. Could it be related somehow to his crush? Or maybe he just gave up on trying to please others to make friends and became angry. Whatever the reason, I think Dylan did not really want to be a part of the event, and I think it was an act of blind frustration. They would both take their lives in the end, and Dylan had already been writing about committing suicide in the end. I think Dylan must have thought something along the lines of "whatever, screw it" and just went along with it.

A comparison of Korean and American food

I consider myself a big fan of food, and because I love eating so much, there really is not many kinds of food that I will not eat. Right off the top of my head, I can only think of two foods I will not eat, which are mushrooms and onions. I just can’t stand the rubbery texture of mushrooms, and do not find the taste very appealing. Onions taste bitter unless they are cooked, so I’ll only eat them if they are grilled. Now, being a Korean living in America, I got to have a taste of both cultures. Regarding food, I grew up eating Korean dishes because my mom cooks Korean food. But with all kinds of restaurants out, I got to compare the different foods. First of all, rice is a stable food for Korean dishes, and because I have become so accustomed to eating it, It sometimes bothers me when I eat some sort of food without it, particularly meat. For example, even when I go out to eat steak, I may want rice too. I guess the reason why I like rice is even it is bland, you can mix it with the flavors of other food, and get more to eat. It’s kind of like having a bottle of strong sweet tea, and pouring some water into it to sacrifice a little of it’s flavor for more tea. This may explain why I sometimes prefer quantity over quality. I would much rather eat until I am full than eat just a bit of really good food. Overall, I love food of all types of cultures, and I’ve never been much of a critic because I’m not picky. But to compare American food (which probably is more like a mix of foods from all cultures) and Korean food, I find that American food is generally more focused on bold, strong flavors with the usage of barbecue sauce and plenty of salt. Korean food is generally focused more on a variety of side-dishes to eat with the main entrée.