You may have heard of Columbine High School, where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out a highly publicized shooting in 1999. Well, Columbine is located right outside of Denver, my hometown. As you might imagine, the tragic events of ’99 had quite an impact on how I approach things such as death threats and hate mail, like the recently-discovered graffiti on campus. Before April 20, 1999, the Columbine shooters seemed to be normal teenagers, not unlike us. Both Eric and Dylan were well raised. They were normal, happy kids for most of their lives. Granted, I’m not claiming that they were flawless, or even mentally stable. But we all have problems, right? The point I’m getting to is this: in terms of the graffiti incident at our own school, I don’t think we should completely exclude the possibility of the perpetrator having been a PA student or an AHS kid. As of this writing, the authorities and faculty seem to be focused solely on the idea that it was a construction worker who wrote the threat. Our student body is a very intelligent one, but intelligence doesn’t always come hand-in-hand with happiness or plain good judgment. Stress is something we all have plenty of, and stress can lead to unhappiness and irrational behaviors of all sorts, including saying (or writing) certain things that may or may not mean what we intend them to. Phillips Academy isn’t for everyone. There must be some students here who are unhappy and who don’t know where to channel their anger and frustration. I am aware that our students are cared for in the best way possible,with Graham House available, as well as many loving faculty to turn to in any time of need. However, not everyone is willing to seek help where it is offered. There could always be that one child who is so unhappy that he or she would consider acting up as Eric and Dylan did. Why would a PA student or an AHS student write a threat on the construction site? And, more so, why in a porta-potty? Well, it could be the perfect way to distract the authorities from considering the possibility that the threat was written by a student. Whether or not this graffiti is a “credible threat,” written by a construction worker or a student – it is a reminder of the potential consequences of anger, sadness and frustration when these feelings go unaddressed. Emily Hutcheson-Tipton is a two-year Lower from Denver, Colo. ehutchesontipton@andover.edu
