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Published on 04/28/1999 All articles from this issue

Yes, Los Altos, it can happen here

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Editorial

A late-night commentator on ABC-News' "Nightline" last week offered communities around the country some harsh advice: "The worst thing we can do is to think it can't happen here."

Of course we're referring to the April 20 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., that left 15 dead, including the two student gunmen. Columbine was the latest in a series of suburban high schools that have been the scenes of horrific shootings. What is particularly sad is that we live in time in which such shootings no longer seem unusual.

What's going on here? We look for answers that aren't cut and dried. Where were the parents? Where were the high school administrators? Didn't anybody see warning signs? Does the problem lie in today's pop culture with gratuitous violence in movies; gruesome, Nazi-touting Web sites; and freak shows like Marilyn Manson? We, along with the rest of the country, feel anger, outrage, sadness, bewilderment.

We in the Los Altos area live in a special part of the world. We are and live among some of the most affluent, educated and sophisticated people on the planet. But, as the man said, "Don't think it can't happen here."

Certainly, we don't want to live in a paranoid world in which people are always looking over their shoulders. But we shouldn't be in denial either.

So what can we collectively do to prevent another Littleton or Jonesboro? Does prevention mean installing metal detectors at schools across the country? No. Detectors are expensive and schools have numerous exterior doors through which determined gunmen could enter.

Prevention, to our way of thinking, starts with the way we treat each other in the first place. Do parents really listen to their kids and spend quality time with them? Do we treat one another the way we would want to be treated? As an equal? With respect? With kindness? Do schools make efforts to discourage cliques and encourage mutual respect?

Sure, you've heard it all before, and no doubt, numerous times in the course of the week since the shootings. But such questions need to be asked again and again until they sink in.

This week, Los Altos High School is celebrating AIDS Awareness Week. Perhaps a Clique Awareness Week at Los Altos and Mountain View high schools would be helpful as well to break out of the arrogance and exclusiveness usually associated with cliques. Reach out to those outsiders, and you just might be pleasantly surprised. And do it now, because it can happen here.