Expressions of the Heart
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A Letter from Columbine High
A Columbine student wrote:
"The paradox of our time in history is that we have
taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints;
we spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.
We have bigger houses and smaller families; more
conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but
less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more
experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less
wellness.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our
values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life;
we've added years to life, not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have
trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.
We've conquered outer space, but not inner space;
we've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we've
split the atom, but not our prejudice.
We have higher incomes, but lower morals; we've become
long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of tall men, and short character;
steep profits, and shallow relationships.
These are the times of world peace, but domestic
warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of
food, but less nutrition.
These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; of
fancier houses, but broken homes.
It is a time when there is much in the show window and
nothing in the stockroom; a time when technology can
bring this letter to you, and a time when you can
choose either to make a difference...or just hit
delete."
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Paul Harvey writes:
We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren,
I'd like better.
I'd really like for them to know about hand-me-down clothes and homemade ice
cream and left-over meatloaf sandwiches.
I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by
being cheated.
I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.
And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.
It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.
I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.
I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother. And it's all right if you have to draw a line
down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I
hope you let him.
When you want to see a movie and your little brother wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him.
I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do
it safely.
On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks
away so you won't be seen riding with someone as un-cool as your Mom.
If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.
When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.
I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a girl (or boy), and when you talk
back to your mother that you learn what Ivory soap tastes like.
May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen
flagpole.
I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope, I
hope you realize he is not your friend.
I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.
May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.
I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she
hugs you and kisses you at Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.
These things I wish for you-tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, its
the only way to appreciate life.
If you are my friend, please answer this: Are we friends or are we not? You told me once, but I forgot.
So tell me now. And tell me true. So I can say....I'm here for you. Of all the friends I've met, you're the
one I won't forget. And if I die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you.
Send this to all of your friends who mean the most to you. We secure our friends not by accepting favors
but by doing them.
--Paul Harvey
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