April 20th, 1999, students and teachers awoke that morning to attend a regular day of school, but instead walked into one of the worst school massacres, in the United States, in the last twenty years, unknowingly. Columbine’s murder-suicide happened at the hands of two teenage boys, Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold, killing 13 people, injuring 20, then followed by killing themselves. The tragedy left thousands in mourning, anger, and fear, outraged people looked for someone to blame, Sue Klebold became that surrogate.

On the day of the massacre, she was at her work office when she received an urgent phone call from her husband, his voice masked with panic and pain. She dropped everything and began to speed home, praying to God her son wasn’t hurt, only to find out on arrival that her son was one of the shooters.

“The police were there and helicopters were going over,” Klebold said. “And I remember thinking, ‘if this is true, if Dylan is really hurting people, he has to– somehow he has to be stopped.’ And at that moment, I prayed that he would die, that– ‘God, stop this, just make it stop. Don’t let him hurt anybody.”

After 17 years, Sue agreed to do a 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer, Silence Broken: A Mother’s Reckoning which aired Friday, February 12th, to advise her book, A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of a Tragedy, having all the proceeds goes to research and charitable foundations focusing on mental health issues.  Since the bloodshed, she has suffered greatly, being blamed, blaming herself, her husband divorced her from their grief, and she was diagnosed with cancer, but she has spent her time trying to apologize.

She doesn’t understand how a parent could miss the signs of their son or daughter turning into a murderer, she feels she failed as a parent, and she wishes that she could change how she handled her son’s health, when really teenagers are just great liars. Klebold wants the people that have suffered from her son’s actions to comprehend how sorry she is, and you can frequently find her at the memorial site, though she does not feel welcomed.

Dylan Klebold was a very sick kid, who became victim to an even more sick soul, and his actions resulted in a great amount loss, but from Sue’s point of view as she grieves for other families affected by her son, she also mourns for her own loss of a child she bore and couldn’t help.

She has become an advocate for what has happened trying to save other children. Dylan and Eric had mental health issues, but were also victims.

I hope this article provides insight to not put people down or bully someone, you don’t know where someone is at in there life or what there breaking point is.

Be Kind.