Where would E &D be today if 4/20 hadn't happened?

When this question comes up, people usually say they'd still both be either dead or in jail.
I am not criticizing the people who believe that but I know that at least a few people must have a more optimistic view of where they could be now if that terrible day hadn't happened and I'd love to hear from those people most of all.

While it's impossible to say because there are a million ways a life can go, my best guess is that Eric would have went to some branch of the military and after he left that ,he would have went into some sort of private defensive contracting, something like what his Dad worked at.
I think Eric could be good at that kind of work and it might keep him interested.

I see Dylan as going to college and then into the computer field.
It was one of his main interests and most agree he had some sort of talent in that area.
I see them as both marrying in their mid to late 20's.
I can't make a guess as if they would have eventually become Fathers or not.
Most people do want children but seeing how they both did not, I can't hazard a speculation on if they would have changed their minds

Dylan? It would depend if he got out of depression with age or not.
If not, then he'd have commited suicide, or perhaps gone on solo "Cho-style" at his campus. That's aways a possiblity we should not brush off.

IF he'd have gotten over his depression, he'd prolly be sitting somewhere at an IT support-desk somewhere. Or be one of those creeepy guys that come to fix your office PC when a ventillator falls apart or something.

I don't think Dylan would have had a great ultra-sucessfull career in front of him, but I think his IT skills could land him a decent corporate support desk job and he would end up having a regular, run-of-the-mill life.


Eric? Hard to say, I think there would be more uncertainties and options for him. He could always go on a spree of his own, or make a mall etc shooting with Dylan once Dylan is back in Denver for holidays or whatever.
He could go on to have a lower-end job because of never getting eductaion past HS. Think Byron Klebold.

He could get involved in crime, end up in jail.

He could have got himself togeather, go to community college, or even graduate to some real university in spring 2000 and later down a road get a job, family etc. Weirdly enough, I think Eric both had the potential to be much less sucessfull than Dylan, but also much more successfull given the right circumstances. I don't see Dylan having a family anytime soon after 1999. I can see Eric doing that.

I think Dylan would have met a pretty girl in college (hey, lots of pretty girls - I included - think he was cute and wouldn't say no!) and graduated with a tech degree, then married the girl after college. I think he could have worked at a tech department for a company or a college. This is, of course, all provided that he got help for his depression. I personally don't think he would have changed his mind about children because a LOT of people don't. I'm gonna throw it way out there and say that there may also be a slim chance he would publish poetry, even if anonymously online.

Eric could probably combine his love of conputers and the military and get a tech job with a military branch. Personal biases aside I can say he probably would have had a better chance at meeting anf marrying a pretty girl (no shade on Dylan, it's just that Eric was more conventionally handsome and less afraid to ask girls out).

When violence and madness become part of your life, it's hard to just brush it aside and move on. Still, there is the distant but possible chance both shooters could have gone on to live 'normal' lives.
Eric probably would go into some sort of private security firm, subs he wasn't abke to get into the military, and that sort of thing seems to really be the only field that would hold much in the way if interest for him. Like many people have suggested, Dylan most likely would have gone into computer programming or something of that nature.
But I believe that in our lives there are some events that are predetermined which we cannot change. The columbine shooting was simply a matter if inevitability. If E&D hadn't done it, someone somewhere else in the country would have shot up their school. There are some times when we do the only thing we can. Eric was too angry at modern society to be happy with just some job. Dylan was too depressed to ever get much enjoyment out of living. They did the only thing they could, and it was just some minor angst that they could have just gotten over and moved on with, it was something much deeper, darker, and more dangerous.

HUMANE55 wrote:

The columbine shooting was simply a matter if inevitability. If E&D hadn't done it, someone somewhere else in the country would have shot up their school.

I'd disagree. Not in the sense that no shooting would ever occur, but rather that the other shootings would probably be more along teh lines of of the Luke Woodham or Michael Carneal affairs. I do think that the publicity that the CHS shooting had (its been discussed in other threads, won't go into details here why it in particular got so publicized) was created by a rare combination of factors and imho would be unlikley to appear in a different shooting.

Also, CHS shooting had a lasting impact on future shooters (chiefly because of the media exposure and the association with goths, outcasts, loners and bullying). I'm pretty sure Kimveer Gill would just commit suicide and not go on a rampage if it wasn't for the CHS shooting. Auvinen and Saari probably as well, both were incredibly influenced by columbine.
If Lanza would have commited a spree killing, I'm sure it would be of an entirely different context and I doubt a school would have been his target. He used the CHS shooting as a blueprint.

Cho might have been a serial killer rather than a spree killer if it wasn't for 4/20.

Jeff Waise would imho be likely to kill just his grandfather and then make a standoff and shootout with the police in the house, not go to school with guns. He'd follow more the examples of his father and other people from the area, rather than mimic a distant HS shooting.

The individual impact of 4/20 was enormous and I doubt the perfect storm of conditions that made it so infamous would quickly repeat itself.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
I think you make a good point but I think that outside of their anger E &D had an enormous amount of potential.
If they could have only gotten past some of their rage and depression to see and understand that, I truly believe the possibilities of them making good lives for themselves would be very real.


I do believe that you are correct in saying that at some time somebody would have pulled off a Columbine type shooting even if E &D never did.
I think someone someday will out do Cho or Adam Lanza.
It's become a sad fact of life.