In light of what happened earlier today

Squirley_Guy

Squirley_Guy

Well-Known Member
As many of you know, today there was a shooting at an elementary school in Newton, CT. I won't go in to too much detail, I just wanted to share a story with you guys.

Last year in my symphonic band class, we played a piece called "An American Elegy." It was written by Frank Ticheli, a composer who I quite honestly don't like, in light of the Columbine high school shooting of April 20, 1999. Ticheli says this about his piece:
Frank Ticheli said:
A reaffirmation of the strength of the human spirit, this expansive elegy was composed in memory of those who lost their lives at Columbine High School, and to honor the survivors. It's graceful and gentle in its harmonic structure, yet musically probes for a deeper meaning. At the end, a simple, thoughtful solo for trumpet precedes a broad crescendo that lifts our hopes and quells our fears. A strikingly beautiful work both in meaning and in music!
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The first time our band performed this was on April 20, 2000, one year after the Columbine shootings. I was too young to know about it, but I heard it was the most crowded and emotional the performance of the band ever.
During the performance, many people broke down and started crying, including the director who was, as the current band director describes him, "the saltiest old fish." When you listen to it, you will see why.


After the trumpet solo at around 7:31, our band added in a part where we sung the Columbine alma mater.

"Mountains rising to the sun,
towering o'er the plains,
heads held high we stand as one
as proudly we proclaim!

We are Columbine!
We all are Columbine!
Let the world be told,
blue and silver we uphold
forever."

At 7:02, the melody is the words of the Columbine alma mater "We are Columbine! We all are Columbine!" Whenever that part came when we played it, I got goosebumps all over.

Absolutley beautiful. By far my favorite band piece ever. Please take 10 minutes to listen to it, it is worth it. Thank you guys.
 
I just found out about the shooting, and after hearing the details, I'm at a total loss of words.

I don't understand how an individual can bring himself to take the lives of so many innocent children.


It is completely inexcusable.

You can have the shittiest life and the shittiest upbringing, but if you're gonna do yourself in, you DO NOT EVER take others with you. Especially those so young and so disconnected from your own personal problems.

Even people with the lowest levels of moral support should know this.


There's no way he's getting out of Hell for this.
 
I couldn't even watch the news. I had to zone out into loud music so I wouldn't be all ;(

I'm like... I would go out and get shot right now if it meant those people, especially the children were still alive.

And good, good song.
 
Just thought I'd share what I saw on my fb earlier today....

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TURN OFF THE NEWS.......

Morgan Freeman's brilliant take on what happened yesterday :

"You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why.

It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.

CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.

You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

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I agree wholeheartedly with Freeman, as I usually do. He's one of the most intelligent people I've had the pleasure of hearing speak.
 
One of the bits that I HATE the most when any of these happens is those hero pages that pop up on Facebook.

I mean, it's all cool that you're trying to celebrate their death, but then saying 'Like this post if you believe in heroes' is completely fucking disgusting. They are basically exploting someone's death to cash in their imaginary internet points.

They make me fucking sick.
 
Snopes.com says that there's no proof that speech was penned by Morgan Freeman. I read it in his voice though.

I've been hearing that the Westboro Baptist Church is going to protest against gay rights at the funerals. These people are sick, using this tragedy to get attention. I'm speechless, I'm speechless at the ways people have been reacting to this. I don't know what's worse, the people who make sick jokes, or the people who use it as political fodder.
 
FaerieInCombatBoots said:
Snopes.com says that there's no proof that speech was penned by Morgan Freeman. I read it in his voice though.

I've been hearing that the Westboro Baptist Church is going to protest against gay rights at the funerals. These people are sick, using this tragedy to get attention. I'm speechless, I'm speechless at the ways people have been reacting to this. I don't know what's worse, the people who make sick jokes, or the people who use it as political fodder.
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I heard the KKK are planning to counterprotest the WBC.

Not even joking here.
 
Side note: The KKK are not actually a hate group - it's their offshoots and people who pretend to be them who are responsible for most of the hate crimes attributed to them; at least in the last 80 years or so. The REAL KKK is actually very caring towards other races and faiths.
 
When I first heard of this, I was playing a shooter. I then immediately stopped because the sight of guns were sickening. I had a think and a talk about it with my friends, I felt really sorry for the people who died and the parents of those kids. My deepest condolences go out to you. Appreciate what you have right now, try to hold on to it and treasure it.

zombieslayergirl said:
What kind of sick bastard would shoot people that have no connection with him whatsoever? ;(
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Exactly, he was sick.
 
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