EDITORIAL : TEENS' EYE VIEW.

IT'S hard to find anyone who was not touched by the shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. But perhaps those who feel the most empathy for the student survivors are their peers: high school students who live similar lives and have similar goals and fears.

It's no different here in and around the San Fernando Valley. On Saturday and Sunday, the Daily News published short essays from 23 high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, who were asked for their perspectives on the Colorado tragedy and what it's like to be a teen-ager.

Their stories are replete with the typical themes of teen life: trying to fit in with the ``cool'' cliques; what clothes to wear; peer pressure to do drugs, drink alcohol and have sex; and the overwhelming importance of performing well in class.

That is, for good or bad, what the high school years are about. Adolescents trying to understand who they are, what they like and how they can get where they are going as they are growing up.

Overwhelmingly, none of the students contributors could comprehend the violent act that occurred on a high school campus much like their own.

They don't understand why those so-called misfits and outcasts gravitated toward violence. Yet many have to deal with armed gang members, random crime and vandalism, and metal detectors when they walk into school.

``We look at our classmates differently now,'' Jennie Le, a junior at Monroe High School, wrote. ``We'll never know which one of them could be the one to kill us all. There is a lot of pressure on us as students.''

Nothing could be more frightening and more apropos of teen life at the end of the 20th century. Schools no longer are safe havens, fellow students no longer can be considered nonthreatening.

These are tough times to be growing up. Parents need to be more aware of what their children are going through - and need to stay in close touch with them.

And everyone should realize this: Columbine could happen here.