What I propose is not some kind of physical and singular statue, sculpture, or building honoring these fallen students. For a man or woman whose life has been lived out, a twenty, or fifty thousand-dollar bronze sculpture may have its place. For Mr. Sanders, I think they could rename the school in his honor, and it wouldn't be enough, but the bulk of these children's lives lay ahead of them, and had yet to be lived. The fruits of the gift of life they were given had bareley begun to be passed on and multiplied. This, as much as their "today," is what was stolen by the hate and violence that ruptured their physical, mortal lives.

I do not know the spiritual leaning or religion of each of the fallen victims, or of those who will bear scars and handicaps from this mayhem for life, but I do know many were very devout Christians. These were people who had dedicated their hands and their lives to God. One student, Cassie Bernall, stood and died for her faith, other students huddled and prayed as the angel of death touched or passed over them. For these reasons, any memorial must house the ability for people to gather together and pray. The two shooters had lost all faith, and for those two souls we must pray the most. The irony is this may force a memorial to be somewhere other than on school or municipal grounds. Maybe the school district, or the city, could give away a piece of ground, say a piece of the hillside where people have gathered to mourn and build such beautiful and spontaneous memorials, so this ground may officially be designated sacred.


The memorial I propose has a physical, material side, and a nonphysical, charitable side to it. I would like to see either a small "chapel" like building constructed, or perhaps a large outdoor Gazebo that people could gather around or under. Here there would be a plaque for each victim, done in some permanent medium, with a low relief sculptural image of the victim imbedded in it. There are hundreds of professional figurative sculptors in Colorado, I'm sure 13 could be found to donate their talent. Beside each image would be the best aspirations and expressed dreams of that student. Flowing from the center of this building would be a landscaped fountain that would emerge from a large pool representing all those hurt in this tragedy. It would then wind its way through thirteen small pools and flower gardens Crosses, statues, or spiritual sayings that reflect each child's soul and uniqueness could help beautify and define their pond and garden. Such decisions would be up to each family.


But how to carry forward the individual beauty, dreams and gifts of each student is the real challenge. For this I have a five layered proposal. The first part is that all the money that is presently being collected towards a memorial, be put into a managed trust fund where the yearly interest is spent on a rotating basis to help some other child carry on in the name of one of the fallen victims. An example of this would be, that one-year, funding would be made available to help some new student partake in a trip to Mexico and help build a house for a poor family. This would be done in the name and memory of John Tomlin. This was a significant event in John's life. The second part would involve keeping the principle of that trust fund available for loans for projects in and around the Littleton community which represent the best aspirations of its citizens. Loans that would represent the contributions these children would have made to their community had they lived. The third aspect involves having the physical structure be a place individuals or businesses can come and dedicate their own intellectual, artistic or physical talents, in the name of one of the victims. Perhaps it is a play a student is writing that she is struggling with, or an important volleyball game about to begin. It would also be a place an individual or business entity could come forward and personally fund a specific project, or fund an individual student in the name of one of the fallen victims. This may take the form of a onetime scholarship for a youth to study art in Europe, or making room for an intern-ship at a local business for a high school computer student. Some form of bulletin board or interactive display could keep track of this. The fourth branch of this living memorial would be a physical place for people to gather, to read poetry, to enjoy a choir concert, to partake in a prayer service, to carry forwards the tradition of a mime who must not be silenced, or for whatever reason. To just sit and remember and treasure that which was, and which, through individual actions, will always be, and can always shine.


The fifth layer of my memorial would be some kind of online web site presence that would have multiple facets, like the crown jewels, these children were. The shooters used the Internet to learn bomb making techniques and broadcast their brand of hatred, but doctors also use it to find the latest medical research and save lives. All we can do is plant goodness wherever we go, and then nurture it with love and care. In this spirit I would like each of individuals of the Columbine massacre to have a web site under the umbrella of a larger "Web Tree Memorial" There were many touching slide shows and videos presented at the different student's funerals, many friends and teachers said eloquent good-byes, while friends wrote notes on caskets as if they were yearbooks. . In the Denver papers, many more moving stories were told of their lives, and their sad and heroic final moments were brought to light. Some of this could be brought together under one online memorial, as well as so much that wasn't brought forward. Let's start with a student's poems. A special English paper or biology project. I say give them the light of day. Put it where everyone can see it. This would be great, but let us not stop there. The proposal for the memorial, "That Which Will Always Be," is centered around other people picking up the torch of those that fell. Here is a place there can be constant updates to these missions of light. One of the brothers wants to see "Lauren Groups," started in the name and memory of his sister, Lauren Townsend. These groups would reach out to kids in trouble or on the fringe and pull them back from the brink, pull them into the group. He remembered his sister as someone who did this. Here is a way not only to help fund the startup of these groups, but to link them together, so they can keep track of each other and be as one. Here is a way people, especially today's kids, can know what heroes lay in the heart of Colorado, and have role models to emulate through concrete actions.

As I have said, I would like to see the bulk of, or, if possible, all of the money gathered for a memorial, go into a community managed trust fund that meets the above objectives. Most, if not all, of what I propose physically could be done with donated materials, talent and labor. I am sure there are many regional building supply companies, electricians, carpenters, plumbers and landscape designers who would each contribute something towards a small memorial building, and an abundance of people who would help build and maintain the gardens.


With this said, let me expand a little on what we normally do with trust funds, and that is how we spend the yearly interest, while the principle stays untouched. I have no idea how much money will be raised for a memorial, anywhere from thirty thousand to three hundred thousand I suppose. Taking the lower figure, there could be around 2,000$ a year in grant money, seed money or matching funds made available to help fulfil one or two dreams of the victims. The money could fulfil one or two aspirations the dead students can no longer reach out for, but that now could blossom into life through other student's actions. Perhaps it's a journey to Jerusalem; perhaps it's a small fishing boat. Something to paddle out into a lake, kick back and enjoy the summer breeze, to just be a kid, to allow a student to have a childhood dream. Maybe it's funding materials for a group of students to help a neighborhood in downtown Denver construct a mural of its own history. Each stricken family could designate one or more such projects, which as money is made available, are carried out into perpetuity in their child's name and memory. Obviously, if there were 200,000.00$ collected, interest from such a huge fund could fund many projects on a yearly or biyearly basis, and the fund could grow, even after its origin, through donations.


This proposal for the memorial "That, Which Will Always Be," is being presented only as a seed idea, to be accepted, rejected or integrated into other ideas for a memorial. I have written it as my way of picking up the torch. I have written it, and I present it, in the spirit of Rachel Joy Scott, the fallen student I feel the closest bond to, perhaps because I was the president of my thespian (theater) club back when I was a senior in High School. Rachel sounds just like the kind of theatrical person that so many of my friends were, and yet an absolute individual onto herself, as again, my friends were. The following is a poem I wrote, in part while listening to Rachel's funeral, and in part, while watching Sundays community wide Memorial Service. Both of these I watched over the Internets live 3" by 3" video feed as I worked in a computer lab those drizzly afternoons. I am a student of, and I work at, FRCC Larimer campus here in Fort Collins.