Case In Point

Courtesy City Room Blog

Contributing Photographer Jim Brown

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

Possible Conversation at the Department of Defense:

"Hey, it's a nice day along the coast. Why don't we take Air Force Two up over NYC, and chase it with an F-16 so we can get some good shots of the plane with the "Big Apple" in the background? We can pretend it's Air Force One."

"Shouldn't we tell somebody in New York we're coming? "

"Why, they probably won't even notice."

Just when we thought the old joke about "Military Intelligence" left our active lexicon.

But I've been talking about Columbine, and some of the lessons we should have all learned from the experience. And this incident in New York this week is the perfect illustration of what's been going through my brain.

"Time Heals All Wounds."

Pity the person who utters that adage in the face of anyone who has suffered grief. Time just allows your body to get used to the pain. Nothing is healed.

All of this we know, and I'm not here to arrogantly preach "The Way of the World" to anyone. It is just that the experience of being at the scene of the shootings, at several of the funerals, at most of the memorials, at maybe 50 of the news conferences, and looking for poignant sidebar stories every day, offers some revelations. Here comes another one I'd like to share.

In the media an event like Columbine has some elements of a class or family reunion. Journalism is such a small, tight, animated culture. People we know arrive from all parts of the country. We all have the same missions, find the stories, get them shot, recorded or written, and get them back to our newsrooms. But if you happen to be living or working here?

The circles of people I know in this community are large in circumference. And? Since an entire student body, faculty and administration were hiding from gunfire inside a school building? Since family members were rushing to the scene trying to get information? Since police, fire and paramedics in a 40 mile radius rushed to the scene? Well?

I have not talked to anyone in the past decade who didn't, at least, know someone who knew someone at least indirectly involved with Columbine. The ties were so great for local media it impacted the way we did our jobs. We, for the most part, did not shove microphones into the faces of grieving family members. We did not crash funerals we were not invited to. We did not stake out locations where we could jump out of a bush and ask a tough question of a victim's brother or sister or fiance.

But you know what? Reporters and photographers from out of town did. They had newsroom managers all over the country telling them to do what they had to do get the story, get it right and and get it first.

Am I being critical of all journalists outside the Denver Metropolitan Area? No! I can't say that if I had been covering an earthquake in San Diego that I wouldn't have behaved as those reporters might have behaved at Columbine. This is just a revelation that while "Time MAY contribute to healing?" So, too, does "DISTANCE!" And there appears to be a correlation between how distant and how emotionally affected you are.

I know my colleague and friend Hendrik Sybrandy offered up this thought in the newsroom at KMGH?

"No one will EVER tell a Columbine Joke!"

And to be honest I've not heard one in this town. And odds are small we'll hear any Columbine humor coming out of Grand Junction or Cheyenne, Wyoming. But Phoenix, Los Angeles, Houston, Kansas City? I'm not so sure. And I'd give odds jokes have been told in Miami and Vancouver.

And let's be honest, humor is often what helps us all cope with tragedy. But when that tragedy is next door? Distance seems as important as time in easing the pain.

We know from life experience that new generations will lighten the burden of grief. Then the mission must be, " don't let them FORGET Columbine or 9/11." If they forget those events and begin to take them lightly, they may happen again.

But what were those guys in Washington D.C. thinking. With those two planes they couldn't have been more than 20 minutes away from Broadway, even in bad weather. There can be no excuse. Look at it this way. NO ONE in New York would have approved a photo shoot over Manhattan. The DOD is lucky the New York National Guard didn't fire some missiles at Air Force Two or the F-16.

I promise to get back to lighter fare the next time I show up here.