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Cassie and Valerie's Moral Choice

© Frank Monaldo

"The soul has fled:
When faith is lost,
When honor dies,
The Man is dead!"
  -   John Greenleaf Whittier.

IT HAS BEEN SEVERAL WEEKS since the Columbine High School tragedy in Littleton, Colorado. The arguments have played out predictably. There have been calls for and against gun control between the usual players making their oft-repeated points. Hollywood movies have been accused of nurturing an immoral popular culture, while moviemakers eschew blame and argue that movies just reflect society. Movies mirror violence in society, they argue, not cause it. Video games are charged with desensitizing a generation to graphic violence. Defenders point out that the overwhelming majority of people who play video games do not become murders. Others point to the lack of moral education in schools as a contributing cause of aberrant behavior, while school defenders point to peer-mediation and other programs as steps to reduce school violence. However, the mind is drawn to a singular unique element to the tragedy, a pair of amazing acts of personal courage. Rather than deciphering the demented pathologies of the killers, what can be learned from the integrity of two of their victims?

Cassie Bernall, a seventeen-year girl, was trapped in the Columbine school library with tens of other frightened students. Cassie was known to be an active Christian and was questioned by one of the two teenaged killers. He asked her if she believed in God. An affirmative response earned Cassie a fatal bullet to the head.

Cassie's story is ironic in that she was not always a person of faith. As a young teenager, she was chronically in trouble. Her parents went to great lengths to restrain their wayward daughter, essentially grounding her in for early teenage years. Cassie was miserable and angry for most of this time. The turn around for Cassie came at a weekend Christian youth retreat, where Cassie committed herself to Christ. The change in her behavior was quickly apparent. Cassie went on to instruct other children about her faith as well as to volunteer to aid in substance abuse recovery programs.

Valerie Schnurr was another, though not so publicly noted, young lady that suffered for her affirmation of faith. A random barrage of bullets and bomb shrapnel had hit the eighteen-year old, when she instinctively shouted, "Oh my God!" One the attackers demanded to know if she believed in God. Despite the fact that Valerie had just seen the results of Cassie's response, she answered, "I do believe in God, and my mom and dad have taught me about God." Fortunately, Valerie managed to scoot away after these words. The attackers moved on.

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