Atonement and Columbine

Who said justice is mine? Is atonement something I need or something the criminal needs?

In response to tonight’s class, I cannot say that I am so altruistic that my compassion for the victim turned perpetrators in Columbine surpasses my care and concern for the victims. In saying that I mean to say, the victims that should be title as such are the students on the campus Columbine and millions of viewers who were and continue to be impacted by this act. With consideration for atonement, it seems important that society at large heal after the acts perpetrated on the Columbine campus. Although I understand that the parents of the perpetrators are suffering the loss of their children, I believe that there was and remains, for me, a level of responsibility on parent’s part when their child’s actions impact the community. If the students had written on the walls of the school the parents would have been held legally accountable. So for me atonement is needed for both the criminal and the victim in Columbine and unfortunately the parents are the only representatives of the perpetrators available to offer atonement.