This afternoon, while slurping some tasty chicken and dumplings in the Graduate Commons, I was reading from a back issue of Newsweek. In one of them, I read an article about the recent shooting of 10 girls at an Amish school in south eastern Pennsylvania. I have read about this event and the reaction to it several times and each time I have been moved by the grace shown by the Amish community to the family of the man who did the shooting. They have set aside some of the funds coming to help with medical bills for the widow and 3 children he left behind when he took his own life that day. They have extended forgiveness to him, and opened their closed funeral ceremonies by inviting his widow to attend, and by attending the ceremony of the man who did the shooting. The Newsweek story recounts how their non-amish neighbors came to their aid to drive them to hospitals where their children had been taken, and by protecting them from the prying eyes of the media by blocking driveways and roads so that they could morn in peace. Each time I read about this event, I feel the urge to weep at the beauty of the Amish response. Their actions speak a better word for Christ than any other.
What would happen if we took our Christian convictions as seriously as the Amish in this time? What would happen if we as a nation chose to respond to violence with forgiveness?
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