Reaction and Remembrance

This morning, as I was perusing news channels on the selection of big-screen TVs at the gym (actually watching the subtitles & streamers while listening to Jeno Jando play Scarlatti sonatas), I was made aware that the killings at Virginia Tech had moved from the “sheer speculation on a few facts” stage to the “psychoanalyze and victimize the perpetrator” phase, along with a smattering of “find something else that’s wrong with society, and blame that.” Again, no perspective on the abyss of human evil, no mention of the man who died saving his students.

As I watched, I recalled the difference in what I’ve seen so far in the fallout from Virginia Tech and the aftermath of the murders of five Amish schoolgirls in Nickel Mines, PA. When I looked the story up later, I was astonished to see that this sad occurrence was only about 6 months ago (2 Oct 2006), and reflected on why it seemed longer to me. Perhaps it was because of the way that the Amish community handled it. This can be best summed up, I think, by stating that they not only profess Christianity, but applied it to the perpetrator of this terrible event as well as his family. The Amish community acted, and it was as if any of the media furor usually seen in the aftermath of such atrocities was suppressed by the simplicity and truth of their actions. The following entry is from the Wikipedia entry Amish School Shooting:

Amish Respond With Forgiveness

CNN reported a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls said of the killer on the day of the murder: "We must not think evil of this man."
Jack Meyer, a member of the Brethren community living near the Amish in Lancaster County, explained: "I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts," he told CNN.
The Amish have reached out to Roberts' family. Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them.
An article in a Canadian newspaper the National Post stated that the Amish have set up a charitable fund for the family of the shooter.
The Amish do not normally accept charity, but due to the extreme nature of the tragedy, donations were being accepted. Richie Lauer, director of the Anabaptist Foundation, said the Amish community, whose religious beliefs prohibit them from having health insurance, will likely use the donations to help pay the medical costs of the hospitalized children.
The most amazing thing was the fathers of the Amish girls shot went to the killers parents and asked what they could do to help them.

No- what the Amish did was not "amazing." It was completely consistent with their beliefs, and their determination to live by them.