Columbine: Klebold's mother pens book

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Sue Klebold is doing interviews, stumping for her book about her son and family.
17 years after Columbine, the mother of one of the killers finally tells her story

I'm glad she's talking and writing about this ...

This is the part that worked me over ....

But beyond her recommendations, this book is littered with regret. “I wish I had listened more instead of lecturing; I wish I had sat in silence with him instead of filling the void with my own words and thoughts,” Sue writes. “I wish I had acknowledged his feelings instead of trying to talk him out of them.”
It’s not that she didn’t love him. “I loved him while I was holding his pudgy hand on our way to get frozen yogurt after kindergarten;” she writes, “while reading Dr. Seuss’s exuberant There’s a Wocket in My Pocket! to him for the thousandth time. . . . I loved him while we were sharing a bowl of popcorn and watching Flight of the Phoenix together, a month before he died.”

That said, there's this ... Which pisses me off.
Paralyzed Columbine victim pens letter forgiving shooter's mother

I might feel differently I wasn't a parent, but I am and this pisses me off to no end. Sue Klebold and her family will never stop apologizing for the son's action, but that doesn't mean she needs forgiveness. From anyone.

Am I wrong here?

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I wouldn't buy her book, but would like to know why this kid was so overmedicated- the autopsy reports suggest he was.
That is something that lies in her domain.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I think she can decide what she needs.

I'm sure she treated him no differently than any other mother treated a son.

 

[Riptide]

At first glance I thought the thread hed said she had a penis book.

 

[WriteThinking]

I watched the 20/20 interview Sue Klebold did a couple of nights ago, and have to say, it was one of the most compelling interviews I've seen in a long time. I almost came on here that night and started a thread about it, but then decided not to do so.

But it was so heart-wrenching, so human, so terrible, so...normal...

That's pretty much how she, her reactions and her parenting, and yes, frankly, her kid, seemed, until the end. I could easily see myself, and just about anybody else, feeling and thinking the same things she did over the years as Dylan grew and tried to navigate through adolescence to young adulthood. I definitely could see myself, my good parents, and other young people who are in our family, in hers, and could empathize with them and wonder if I and we would have had any different responses than they did.

Seriously, can any half-way decent parent honestly really conceive, and believe, let alone actually see, that their son or daughter could write this, as Dylan did, and really, truly mean it?: “oooh god i want to die sooo bad . . . such a sad desolate lonely unsalvageable I feel I am . . . not fair, NOT FAIR!!!”

As for whether she needs forgiveness, I wouldn't say that. But she does need, and probably is seeking, compassion, and perhaps, a little empathy and understanding. That 20/20 interview helped me give it to her.

As she said, tearfully, in that interview, she had to come to realize that, "I didn't kill those people; Dylan did."

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

I'm not saying she needs forgiveness. My issue is not with Sue Klebold. It's with the shooting victim who penned the open letter forgiving her.
It was wonderful for Klebold to write those letters to the shooting victims years ago.
But this girl now writing an open letter announcing her forgiveness of the Klebold's for their role? That's bull****. For what role? For being parents?!?

I'm with WT on this ... Everything seemed so normal. I have empathy for the Klebolds here.
I'm not sure how much fault the Klebolds have here? Yes, it was their son, but ....
They sure as hell have suffered for his sins of their son. They'll never live that down.

The open letter announcing forgiveness gets under my skin. As I stated above, maybe I'd feel different if I wasn't a parent.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Sometimes the person offering forgiveness needs to do so more than the person accepting it. So maybe the victim's apology is more about how she has quit blaming them for what happened.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

The open letter announcing forgiveness gets under my skin.

Profiting off the catastrophe 17 years later gets under mine.

 

[Donny in his element]

From what I read, she intends to donate all proceeds to mental health-related charities.

 

[Roscablo]

Sometimes the person offering forgiveness needs to do so more than the person accepting it. So maybe the victim's apology is more about how she has quit blaming them for what happened.

That's the feeling I got reading her FB post that first went public on it. I think she needed to say she forgave her in order to move on in some way. Seemed like there was a decent level of respect there and she always appreciated the note that the Klebolds sent after the shooting.

And yes, the proceeds are being donated.

 

[outofplace]

From what I read, she intends to donate all proceeds to mental health-related charities.

Darn facts getting in fart boy's way.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

A duly noted fact. I mean, what, should she be congratulated for it?
I still find all of this slightly offputting.
The scab has been rather ripped open.

 

[outofplace]

A duly noted fact. I mean, what, should she be congratulated for it?
I still find all of this slightly offputting.
The scab has been rather ripped open.

Simply admitting you were wrong would have been sufficient.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Yes, Sister Justine.

 

[old_tony]

Simply admitting you were wrong would have been sufficient.

Advice the giver should also take ... but never will.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

From what I read, she intends to donate all proceeds to mental health-related charities.

Hopefully this will allow Farthead to get the help he needs.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

The name's Fart.
But I did laugh.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Yes, Sister Justine.

6

(So worth the margin ****)

 

[linotype]

Yes indeed, **** the victims of such unspeakable tragedies. They've got some goddamned nerve, forgiving the family members of the person who completely wrecked their lives. 'Murica would be a much better place if those damned shooting victims would just keep their big yaps shut.

 

[outofplace]

Advice the giver should also take ... but never will.

Hypocrisy, thy name is old_tony.