Sue Kleboldhttps://www.ted.com/talks/sue_klebold_my_son_was_a_columbine_shooter_this_is_my_story
~ S u m m a r y ~
On April 20, 1999 a total of twelve students and one teacher were killed and more then twenty were left injured during a shooting at Columbine High School. Sue Klebold was the mother of one of the shooters, Dylan Klebold, and in this speech she shares the personal turmoil and struggles she has been experiencing ever since. She was left very confused at the end of her son's life and stated "the cruel behavior that defined the end of his life showed me that he was a completely different person from the one I knew". In the end it seemed as if he was living a hidden and subliminal life that even his mother could not comprehend. Two years before this terroristic event Dylan had written a suicidal note that described how unhappy and unfair he believed his life was and went on to explain how he didn't want to live anymore and it was left unseen, even from Sue, until after the attack. Through pathos she was able to explain the emotions and thoughts that have been flowing through her head and dictating her life. She stated "the tragedy convinced me that I failed as a parent - if anyone should have known to stop this, it should have been me right?". She began to blame Dylan's actions on herself and this led her into a deep depression and was soon following her own son's footsteps. Even though she was not a family member from one that was killed in the school she used ethos by sharing that her too experienced this event first hand. With this she shared with the audience how she has been able to come out of her state of depression and has tried to carry on her life as normal as possible. She has now become very interested in mental health and has made discoveries that help herself and others cope with traumatic events very similar to her own. She closes her speech with a very powerful message that she has learned to accept - "even the most vigilant and responsible may not be able to help, but for love's sake, we must never stop trying to know the unknowable"
~ C o n n e c t i o n s ~
In this speech Sue is able to relate to the Global Dream by stating "15% of global teens have written, planned or committed suicide in the past year". This depicts how it almost seems a desirable lifestyle is unachievable to people, especially teens, making them not wanting to live anymore. This is a very upsetting statistic, but in the article The Right to Fail it shares that even though many people believe that failure is not an option, failing gives you a chance to start over and enables you to do even better. If individuals understood this, many stories like Sue's would not have occurred and the worldwide suicide rate would drop. After witnessing the struggle those in poverty experience everyday in the documentary 30 Days it is very easy to compare it to this article due to the fact that suicide rates are exceptionally high in these individuals. But if these individuals would read the Declaration of Independence and focus on the subject that "all men are created equal" they would realize that their lives are worth living, just like everyone else.
~ S p e e c h R e v i e w ~
I truly believe that anyone is able to relate to this speech. Parents are able to realize the importance of being involved in their children's lives and everyone is able to recognize that their life is worth living. Sue does a very good job at describing three very significant challenges that she faced throughout and also shared the coping mechanisms that helped her through it all. It provide those facing similar issues to her's solutions that could help them get through it also. The only thing this speech did not contain was examples on how parents can see and prevent these sort of events from happening to their own children and what she learned from her own mistakes in the process of raising and losing Dylan.