For many people it is hard to believe that next Monday is the six-month anniversary of the appalling attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Some of the images are so emblazoned in our minds that it does not seem like it could have been more than a month ago. But for those of us who were in high school in 1999, it is difficult to believe that the anniversary of another inconceivable event is approaching – the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Col.

The date was April 20, 1999, one day before my sixteenth birthday. That day Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, who I can only assume were absolutely insane and profoundly disturbed, raided their own high school and shot at anyone in their path. They killed 12 fellow classmates and one teacher and injured more than 20 others before turning the guns on themselves.

It was not just the other students at Columbine who would have nightmares about April 20, but also any other school-age child across the country. This was a very frightening time to be receiving an education. Before Columbine there had been roughly six other significant school shootings that in total left 13 students, four teachers and three parents gone forever. Columbine, the worst school shooting in American history, was the icing on the cake. It truly brought to the forefront everything that is wrong and despicable about our generation. During such tense times our generation even scared me a little.

Most of these horrors have been forgotten over the years. However, my memories were all rehashed when I learned that Darrell Scott, father of one of the victims at Columbine, was coming to speak on Feb. 28.

I wanted to know more about this tragedy that affected all our lives so I decided to listen to the speech. You might even call my interest morbid curiosity.

But what I got was more than I bargained for. Through Scott’s speech I not only learned more about how these people died, but also about how they lived. It was like a glimpse into the past and yet still a window to the future. There was a dark beauty when Scott said, “I am glad that sometimes good things can come out of bad things.” The victim we learned most about, of course, was Rachel Scott.

Scott’s focus was how Rachel wanted to start a “chain reaction” of kindness. In her journal she wrote, “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then they will start a chain reaction of the same.” This was her challenge for the future and her task for our generation.

Her father told us that Rachel wholly lived out her ideals. He told the packed auditorium that she could not pass up a person in need and that anything she did she took to the limit. He told us with a smile on his face that “Rachel did everything 100 percent. Even if it was wrong, she did it 100 percent. She did it with zeal and compassion.”

Scott told stories of Rachel’s childhood, how every day Rachel tried to meet someone new to make them feel welcome and how one night she stopped and helped a stranger fix a tire.

She was, according to fellow classmate Brooks Brown, a “true Christian. She is what Christians were intended to be.” From what I learned about her faith and compassion, I saw the light at the end of a long tunnel for our generation.

We are all aware that Rachel was never able to see her kindness affect the world while she was still alive. She was shot multiple times while sitting out on the school lawn at Columbine. But this did not end Rachel’s challenge to us. Through her father it has been carried on.

Some may accuse Scott of using Rachel to make money, and others claim he is just making a martyr out of her, somewhere along the lines of Jesus Christ. I did not take these negative views away from the speech. All profits go to a non-profit organization known as Columbine Redemption. I simply saw a father that loved and cherished the memory of his daughter. Despite the fact that the speech was indeed religiously motivated, it maintained a positive, secular message.

It is important to remember that there was not just a “faith in God” theme to Darrell Scott’s speech, but also a faith in our generation. I took it to heart when he said, “You are looking at one older guy who really believes in your generation.”

For all the terrible things that have happened during our lives and that we have been a part of, this speech was a reminder that our generation is capable of wonderful things and is filled with humane people.

They certainly did not die for our sins, but all of their deaths, not just Rachel’s, were not in vain. We can learn from the tragedy at Columbine and try to create a more positive outlook for our generation. Perhaps we could start a “chain reaction” of kindness.

Ayrel Clark is a freshman in pre-journalism and mass communication from Johnston.