A Columbine bully who became addicted out of guilt

[Earl]

I've taken the liberty of copying and pasting part of an oprah.com webpage that features an article about the A&E TV series Intervention. Earlier this evening I had read a post in the forum of another website that mentioned the case of a former Columbine "jock" who had attended that high school when the massacre was perpetrated. Since you can read the quotation for yourself, I'll just say that this sad case presents a particular human dimension to bullying. Some people wrongly say that bullying builds character. Actually, it often destroys the character of the bully, as well as the character of the bullied.

I've quoted the first three paragraphs of this webpage article below.

Divine Intervention
Oprah.com

Addictions have the power to rip families apart, ruin lives and, in some cases, end a person's life. When it comes to addiction, Oprah says it seems that everyone is struggling with something.

Over the past five years, addicts have exposed their dependencies to shopping, food, sex, pills, gambling, rage, alcohol, heroin and more on A&E's gripping series Intervention. Each week, millions tune in to see the life-and-death situations these addicts find themselves in and watch as the people who love them tackle the issues head-on. Each episode ends with a dramatic, last-chance confrontationâ??supervised by an interventionistâ??and the chance to go to a free, inpatient treatment facility for 90 days.

Since its premiere, Intervention has become more than a hit TV show. Producers say 77 percent of people they've confronted on camera are clean today.

The last ten paragraphs are quoted here.

When A&E cameras began following Jason, an addict from Littleton, Colorado, he was injecting heroin and cocaine into his body up to eight times a day. To support his habit, Jason panhandled on the street or borrowed money from his devoted parents, Gerry and Kathy, and his sister.

There was a time, however, when Kathy thought of her son as the perfect child and the love of her life. As a student at Columbine High School, Jason was a star athlete who ran with the "cool" crowd. Though he experimented with marijuana and cocaine during his teenage years, his downward spiral didn't begin until 10 months after he finished his senior year of high school.

On April 20, 1999, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold embarked on a massacre at Jason's high school. Twelve of his former classmates and one teacher were murdered during this cold, calculated attack.

"A big reason for their rebellion was because of the jocks in '98, saying that we picked on them and that we were bullies," Jason said. "I know I was a bully in high school."

Wracked with sadness, shame and guilt, Jason amped up his drug use and sank deeper into addiction.

Then, after years of worrying about Jason's safety, his family teamed up with Jeff VanVonderen, one of A&E's intervention specialists, to convince Jason to enter a drug treatment facility. He agreed.

Jason is now 11 months sober. As he looks back at his intervention, he says he's finally able to feel the love his family shared.

"Right now is actually the first time that I've actually really broken down and started really feeling my emotions ," he says. "I've never really taken it to heart and soul, especially when they did my intervention. I was so high that I couldn't cry or express any kind of emotion."

Jason is also starting to open up about what happened during his high school years instead of hiding behind drugs. "I didn't know [the Columbine shooters] personally. But, to be honest, I did pick on them, and we knew who they were," he says. "They were the outcasts of Columbine High School."

Now, Jason says he uses his pain and his past to motivate him to stay clean. "I don't want to bring myself to that low again or hurt myself or hurt my family or anybody around me again," he says.

Within the next year, Jason hopes to become a diving instructor. "It gives me my own high of excitement and learning," he says.

Jason had a conscience, which eventually caught up with him and enabled him to feel guilt. Sadly, he had to learn a moral lesson the hard way. I wish him well in his endeavors.

[rotten]

Wha? Wha? WHAT?? There was bullying at Columbine? But polute24 said that the kids had not been bullied! And he said they wern't outcasts! This young man must be lying about it!


Anyway,
I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand the kid has finally become self aware. That happens to a lot of people, but not usually jocks, so he has my respect there. Still, he seems a little self centered. Perhaps he should try to teach kids not to bully, rather then become a dive instructor. I wonder if he has apologized to Eric and Dylan's parents for helping turn their kids in to monsters?

Also he needs to change the order of this sentence.

"I don't want to bring myself to that low again or hurt myself or hurt my family or anybody around me again,"

to

"I don't want to hurt anybody around me again, or hurt my family, or bring myself to that low again or hurt myself."

or if he was truly thinking of others he could simply say,

"I don't want to harm anyone else again."


Kudos to him for finally waking up though. Maybe he can make something positive of his life.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Earl

__________________
Go Montana State Bobcats that are good people and not bullies and don't drink and drive and think of themselves only and don't try to get preferential treatment, and who are truly at college for a real learning experience! F*** the ones who aren't!

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

I think it's good that he realizes where he went wrong, but still, I would have a lot of trouble forgiving him if I knew him personally knowing that it was partially his fault for 12 people dying because he wanted to have some fun and pick on some kids who weren't as socially successful as him. I don't think people should be suddenly forgiven just because they realize their actions were wrong, he caused 15 people to die (including the shooters who committed suicide)! And likely ruined the lives of countless others. In fact, even though I feel slightly guilty saying it, I was a bit glad at times while reading through that knowing that now he was the one facing troubles and drowning in his own guilt. I just have trouble giving forgiveness to murderers, which I view him as. He, along with his "cool" jock friends killed 13 people. It doesn't matter if they weren't the ones wielding the guns, they caused it to happen. I understand that he's changed, and now knows where he went wrong, but I think if the shooting never happened, he likely wouldn't have realized his wrongdoings.

[Fat Man]

. . . . . Anyway, I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand the kid has finally become self aware. That happens to a lot of people, but not usually jocks, so he has my respect there. Still, he seems a little self centered. Perhaps he should try to teach kids not to bully, rather then become a dive instructor. I wonder if he has apologized to Eric and Dylan's parents for helping turn their kids in to monsters?

Also he needs to change the order of this sentence.

"I don't want to bring myself to that low again or hurt myself or hurt my family or anybody around me again,"

to

"I don't want to hurt anybody around me again, or hurt my family, or bring myself to that low again or hurt myself."

or if he was truly thinking of others he could simply say,

"I don't want to harm anyone else again."

Well, what can you expect?

Bing a jock, he will always think of himself first.

I think he has more regrets about how his own life was fucked up than he has about what his bullying of the other kids in Columbine did to ruin other people's lives.

I think it's good that he realizes where he went wrong, but still, I would have a lot of trouble forgiving him if I knew him personally knowing that it was partially his fault for 12 people dying because he wanted to have some fun and pick on some kids who weren't as socially successful as him. I don't think people should be suddenly forgiven just because they realize their actions were wrong, he caused 15 people to die (including the shooters who committed suicide)! And likely ruined the lives of countless others. In fact, even though I feel slightly guilty saying it, I was a bit glad at times while reading through that knowing that now he was the one facing troubles and drowning in his own guilt. I just have trouble giving forgiveness to murderers, which I view him as. He, along with his "cool" jock friends killed 13 people. It doesn't matter if they weren't the ones wielding the guns, they caused it to happen. I understand that he's changed, and now knows where he went wrong, but I think if the shooting never happened, he likely wouldn't have realized his wrongdoings.

I concur!

Even though he wasn't involved in the shootings, he and his jock friends are still just as guilty because their constant bullying and harassment of other students caused a couple of kids to go over the edge and kill 13 others and themselves in a suicide.

I hope ALL high school bullies end up hitting the skids and are fucked up for the rest of their lives!

Jason had a conscience, which eventually caught up with him and enabled him to feel guilt. Sadly, he had to learn a moral lesson the hard way. I wish him well in his endeavors.

Sorry, but this is one time I have to disagree.

I don't wish him well.

Jason should stay down in the gutter for the rest of his life!

I'm not very forgiving when it comes to these kind of bullies.

My life was fucked up as the result of bullying in school, not only from some of the jocks and sports fans, but even from some of my teachers as well.

My whole life was fucked up!!!

So, all bullies should be gutter-bound!

Jason will have to live with the guilt he feels for the rest of his life, and one day, that guilt will drive him to drink and doing drugs again.

I hope one day he is found dead, laying face down in a gutter, his cold dead hand still clutching an almost empty bottle of Jim Beam!



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ALSO FOR LOOOOOOOSERS!

[Earl]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention Earl

You're welcome.

__________________
Go Montana State Bobcats that are good people and not bullies and don't drink and drive and think of themselves only and don't try to get preferential treatment, and who are truly at college for a real learning experience! F*** the ones who aren't!

rotten, you're funny.

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

I just thought I'd bring to everyone's attention that Drew McIntyre (a former member here who pretended to be one of us, then once some people began to speak of how he really is a troll, he began to claim he was the "Chosen One" and that he would become the Sports Suck Champion or something like that) has made a post in the Guestbook regarding all posts including and preceding Fat Man's post in this topic. I just thought I'd let everyone know that in case anyone wants to rebuttal his arguments.

[Earl]

Bing a jock, he will always think of himself first.

Joe Ehrmann, former NFL player turned minister and high-school coach, preaches a message of putting others first. He has also spoken out repeatedly against bullying. In Dallas, Texas, he recently gave a speech to an assembled group about how to raise boys so they don't become bullies. And Andy is not thinking of himself first, as he does charity work in Namibia. And there are other jocks who think of others. And, yes, there are also others far less admirable.

Jason will have to live with the guilt he feels for the rest of his life, and one day, that guilt will drive him to drink and doing drugs again.

I hope one day he is found dead, laying face down in a gutter, his cold dead hand still clutching an almost empty bottle of Jim Beam!

This is totally unacceptable. Nothing but unbridled hatred. Hoping that someone is found dead in such a sad way? Fat Man, anyone reading posts of yours like this one who does not know you personally would get the impression that you're full of hate. I know that I would. When you hate kids like this one, you do not get back at those who made your childhood so miserable. Your tendency to wish that others like Andy be miserable for the rest of their lives is also quite disturbing. You do yourself a disservice when you deny yourself to feel compassion towards another human being, even if he is someone who did something bad. If you lack empathy and don't show compassion, you're down on the same level as a bully. With your merciless and hateful attitude, you make our side look bad. Your hatred will eat you up alive if you continue with this attitude of vengefulness.

What I'm about to relate may not have much to do with what I'm talking about, but it might be relevant. During the 1980's I once saw the last five minutes of a compelling documentary on one of the cable channels about a meeting that took place between a small group of Holocaust survivors and children of leading German Nazis. All of the participants were speaking in English. Judging by their ages, this document must have been produced during the 1970s.

One of these Holocaust survivors was a middle-aged Jewish woman who had immigrated to the United States after the war. During the Holocaust she had lost her entire family and most, if not all, of her relatives.

One of the children of the leading Nazis was a younger woman in her 30s, perhaps, whose father had been the chief of the Gestapo. (I'm not referring here to Himmler, who was the head of the SS, who were in charge of carrying out the mass murders.) Her father disappeared shortly before Berlin fell. He's believed to have perished in a bombing raid.

Anyway, the Gestapo chief's daughter related how after the war she had lived in fear because she was afraid that friends or relatives of those whom her father had ordered to be executed would take out their vengence upon her. She broke down in tears as she said this.

The Holocaust survivor rushed over and hugged her, exclaiming, "You're just an innocent child." I was deeply touched by this encounter. As I said previously, this woman had lost her entire family, who had been subjected to horrible mistreatment and murdered for no reason other than they were Jews. She had every reason to hate Germans. She could have used this opportunity to try to get back at the Nazis by sneering at this Gestapo chief's daughter. But she was able to see beyond herself and was able to be empathetic to the point of comforting a young woman whose father had been one of the leading criminal figures in the Nazi regime, a man who had been responsible for people (mostly political prisoners) being tortured and executed. I thought this lady had so much class. She was an inspiration to me.

[HugeFanOfBadReligion]

What I'm about to relate may not have much to do with what I'm talking about, but it might be relevant. During the 1980's I once saw the last five minutes of a compelling documentary on one of the cable channels about a meeting that took place between a small group of Holocaust survivors and children of leading German Nazis. All of the participants were speaking in English. Judging by their ages, this document must have been produced during the 1970s

This reminds me of a documentary I watched about a month ago about the battle of Ortona, Italy, often referred to as Little Stalingrad because of the violent nature of the battle. Most of the documentary was about the battle itself. It was fought between the Canadian forces and a German Parachute Division.

The background was that the Allies believed that Italy would have been a good way to gain entrance to Europe and the extent of Nazi Germany's empire. Once the Allies arrived in Sicily, the Italian forces basically gave up immediately with no resistance, which led the Allies to believe that the rest of Italy would be just as easy to go through. Hitler was outraged by Italy's actions and their inability to resist the Allied Forces, and ordered German forces to be deployed in certain areas to stop the Allies. After a while of the Canadian forces pushing the Nazis back through Italy, the Nazis stopped at a small town called Ortona. Ortona was a very important location that both sides wanted to have for various reasons, such as the water port in the town.

Since the Nazis were having little luck resisting the Canadian forces, they set up explosives all around the town and detonated them before the Canadians arrived at Ortona, with only rubble remaining. However, not the entire town was destroyed in the detonation, there were still narrow pathways left in the town. But this was no accident, for these narrow paths were covered with landmines and traps, along with the fact that these passages were open to vantage points that were held by the Germans. These paths were more difficult to pass through than no man's land in World War I, it was impossible for the Canadians to get through.

Once the Canadians arrived, just like the Germans had planned, they had no way to get through. They were pinned down and couldn't make any progress. After a while, the Canadian forces realized that it would be strategically advantageous to go into the buildings which allowed them to go to the rooftops, allowing them to have a strategically equal environment to the Germans. These houses they entered were filled with traps, and I remember one of the veterans being interviewed saying that he was told not to take anything as a souvenir, because it would be a trap, and this was the truth. Both forces battled for days to no avail, with the only progress being the extremely slow advancements done by the Canadians. On Christmas day, soldiers were given the option to get Christmas dinner along with other Christmas activities, but most didn't, they knew that they had to continue the battle. As the battle continued, the Germans realized that the Allies were advancing, even if it was extremely slow. Hitler still made a specific command to the Germans at Ortona that they still had to defend Ortona. However, despite Hitler's order, during the night, as the Allies slept, the Germans quietly abandoned their posts, one by one, with not to many leaving at the same time to make the escape less noticeable to the Allies. The next morning, the Canadian forces found the silence quite odd. They still carried on their duties. After a while, they realized something was up, so they advanced to find no German soldiers left. They had won the battle.

Anyway, the reason why I brought this battle up was not because of the battle itself, but the video of a reunion of all soldiers from the battle on both sides that was on the documentary I watched about the battle. This reunion was recent, definitely less than two decades ago. It was amazing how people who were trying to kill each other almost a century ago were now talking with each other, remembering the battle. To finish my post with a memorable quote (reconstructed to the best of my memory. As one of the former German soldiers shook hands with one of the Canadian soldiers from the Battle of Ortona, the German soldier said "May we forgive each other, but not forget". It really is a truly inspiring quote, and I agree with it. It's good that veterans from both forces can forgive each other. And at the same time, we should not forget the battle and remember the events that took place in these times, to ensure that we don't make the mistakes of the past in the future, and to provide knowledge of what our parents/grandparents/great grandparents or the people they knew went through.

[Fat Man]

I just thought I'd bring to everyone's attention that Drew McIntyre (a former member here who pretended to be one of us, then once some people began to speak of how he really is a troll, he began to claim he was the "Chosen One" and that he would become the Sports Suck Champion or something like that) has made a post in the Guestbook regarding all posts including and preceding Fat Man's post in this topic. I just thought I'd let everyone know that in case anyone wants to rebuttal his arguments.

Well, I just went to the guestbook and Drool McIntyre just got his bitch-ass served up on a platter by yours truly!

Check it out!

[i_like_1981]

I also saw Drew's Guestbook comments. His willingness to spam the hell out of the forum, get banned but then act like a genuine critic on the Guestbook is a lot like Nick. Drew isn't stupid. But he is a troll, and admitted to being one on the Guestbook, so I say keep him off the forum.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[The Imperialist]

Isnâ??t this essentially the person being masochistic, feeling sorry for himself and generally â??Ooooh, I am soooo bad, hurhurhurâ?

[Fat Man]

Good afternoon Earl.

OK, I'm in a really bad mood.

Yesterday afternoon, I broke a tooth!

Actually not broken off, but it's cracked and it's loose and wobbly, and it hurts when I eat solid foods, so, I'm going to have to eat only soup now.

I'm on disability, I get SSI and my Medicare/Medicaid does not cover dental work in Texas for anyone over the age of 18, so I'm fucked!

Texas is a donkey fucking redneck state that won't cover fixing teeth.

Also, the Texas State Board of Education has ruled on textbooks to be selected for the next 10 years, so here in Texas, children won't be learning science, but will be learning Creationist fairy tales instead.

And how to fold paper footballs!

Texas rots one's brains and rots one's teeth!

Anyway, I screwed, because I can't get my teeth fixed here in Texass-hole!

But oh! Football players get FREE cars, even after they have raped someone's daughter, they only get a slap on the wrist. Not even that! They get a pat on the back and a brand new car for free, and they can park their free $100,000 dollar Hummers all day long in 15 minute parking zones and never have to worry about getting their vehicles towed away, nor even a ticket, and they get free dental work so they can chomp down on T bone and sirloin stakes.

But I'm going to be living on soup from now on!

I believe in the death penalty for both rape and pedophilia, and you even agreed with me the pedophiles should also get the death penalty.

Now, maybe if football players who commit rape were to get executed, and get punished for all their other crimes like the rest of us mere mortals, and were given no extra privileges, then that might go a long way to discourage bullying in our schools.

OK, right now, the pain is gone, but if I try to eat anything solid, that loose cracked tooth will wiggle and I'll be in pain again. Last night I took four Aspirin and poured a half shot of Vodka and swished it around inside my mouth, and that dulled the pain.

But in the meantime, professional rapists who get millions of dollars every year just for chasing balls, they can have stake for breakfast!

While, I may have to get use to living on baby food!

No, I'm sorry, but professional jocks who commit violent crimes and school yard bullies belong in the gutter licking scum!

If jocks and bullies were actually punished for their crimes, then that might discourage bullying. Also, I believe that the NFL and the NBA and all of these professional sports organizations should have criminal charges filed against them.

Another words . . . . .


Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time!

Don't talk the talk, if you can't walk the walk!

Say out of the bitchin' kitchen if you can't take the heat!

And, don't listen to no Rock & Roll if you don't dig the beat!

[The Imperialist]

Wait... it is that bad?
My mother says (probably from past experience) that even in the south it is not too bad... or is it because of GW Bush...


But yes, people who do all kind of things... death penalty is a waste of time. Labour camp or penal battalion. If they die, their body is fertiliser. One must be as utilitarian as possible.

[Safety]

That's so sad.

[Earl]

Good afternoon Earl.

Hi, Fat Man. I'm very sorry to hear that you've had trouble with another tooth. I hope you will continue to have relief from the pain.

I'm also glad that you haven't taken my criticism personally. I want visitors to this website know that each one of us speaks for himself and that we don't all think alike. But far more important than that, I have to remain true to my own principles.