In this reading I think Cullen talked about two major points. Eric and Dylan's previous offenses and Dylan's social life. Cullen talks about how Dylan always thought he was alone as well as no one liked him. This wasn't true as stated earlier in the book. As I kept reading about Dylan, all I thought about was depression, depression, depression and how it was noticed by anyone surrounding him. Dylan had a real problem and thought he was basically alone on the Earth. This wouldn't signal that he's planning on shooting up the school but it's certainly a huge problem that any other friend, counselor, or parent should have seen. The second major problem that should have been picked up is when Eric and Dylan kept on getting in trouble. This wasn't just petty thieves, it was actual crimes. An example of this would be when they actually hacked into the school computers and stole locker combinations. Although they were caught, their parents didn't really seem to punish them in the way they should have been punished.
While reading this book, I keep coming to the thought of would this have happened if it was today? I also keep coming back to the answer that this probably wouldn't have happened today. Dylan's depression would have been picked up by somebody, probably. Eric's and Dylan's crimes would have been taken seriously and not just little pranks. If you were a parent of a child who's been committing crimes, would you play it off as a prank? I know I certainly wouldn't.
I definitely don't think that if i was a parent of a child who committed crimes like Wayne Harris being a parent of Eric, i wouldn't play it off as a prank at all. Especially with reading this book, i've learned that almost any kid who has been the slightest bit troubled, or depressed or have had any damaging life circumstances can commit a crime as bad as Erica and Dylan did. Now, i am not saying that every kid who steals things or is depressed is going to go on a killing rampage but crimes aren't a joke. It is against the law to commit one and if you have a child that doesn't really care about obeying the law, then you have to take it seriously and take action to fix the problem before it gets so bad like Columbine.
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