BY SHIN TERADA

Columbine high school is situated in a small town with a population of about thirty five thousand. Recently a crazy incident happened. Two high school students fired guns in the school building. They belonged to a group know as the trench coat mafia. Fifteen lives were lost and twenty three people were injured in the worst incident in an educational institution.

The motivation for the killing was revenge against bullying. According to news report, many cliques exists among American high school students. It seems that these cliques repel each other, and it leads to bullying. It is reported that the trench coat mafia was bulled by the sports club clique, who are called jocks, in Columbine high school.

It is hard to suppose that only bullying turns them into murderers. A bully is only the trigger of this incident. This crime was not committed suddenly but intentionally, and the trench coat mafia to which they belonged was formed by members who have antisocial ideas. The trench coat mafia also believes in Nazism.

Before this incident, one of the murder's web sight diary showed the following:

"I will tell you my ideals. It is that I am the law. I will kill those who don't like my ideals. I will kill as many people in Denver as I possibly can."

It is difficult to know why they became antisocial. We can imagine some warp in society caused such an incident. Also, it can't be denied that the conservative locality influenced them.

American society has various problems. It is natural that these are reflected in children's society. Children become annoyed and are led to craziness in such a society.

On the other hand, Japan also has many problems during this period of economic recession. It is hard for children to have hope for the future. The more society is distorted, the more children become annoyed and are likely to lose sight of their meaning and purpose in life.

We cannot forget the incident in Kobe and the killing of a teacher by a student. The distorted society brought it about. An incident like the one in America may be committed in Japan yet.