As most know, there was a school shooting in Paradise, PA on Monday. A man walked into a Amish one-room school house and shot ten girls, ages 6 to 13. Five died and five have lived.
Most communities, when faced with violent, painful loss, react with a blend of pain, grief and immense anger. In this situation, the tone set by the community of Amish to which the girl belonged to has been one of grace and love. The surrounding population has picked up on it, and the response of has been gentle and deeply caring. I am staggered by the amount of love that has poured forth as a result of this horror, and I am changed by it.
I’ve started thinking about what the world would be like if the families of the victims gathered with the families of the perpetrator(s) to grieve and pray every time a violent act such as this was committed. It seems to me that that would be a revolutionary act.
Rev Bev | 05-Oct-06 at 5:23 pm | Permalink
Let the revolution begin! The mother of a murdered Wharton student will be on campus 10/24 to talk about her opposition to the death penalty. Yes, there are beautiful people in our midst who are aware that healing cannot occur in the context of revenge. God bless them. The Amish are modeling a way of being in the world (even as they reject much of the world) that is truly serving as a beacon of light in a very dark hour. BD