The premise of this article is something that I’ve been thinking myself all week, but didn’t like to put into words if I was going to do it badly, so I thought there was potential for posting, but unlike the rest of the Times coverage, it’s just so… Amish are good and simple and Americans are baaaad and it’s this uncomfortable dichotomy that got us into this mess! But he doesn’t want us to give up our buttons and zippers, just our right to bear arms and television. But not all television! Why can’t he just admire their attitudes and the character behind those attitudes without the over-simplification? “Life is simple if only you don’t have TV!” Or maybe life is always complicated but God makes it simple and, besides that, it doesn’t really matter what humans do?

The Times – A quiet lesson in forgiveness, by Ben Macintyre The dignity and stoicism of the Amish show how the modern world has forgotten ancient virtues

This week’s school shooting showed America at its best and worst. The Amish first came to Pennsylvania in the 1730s, drawn by William Penn’s promise of protection from religious persecution, and prospered thanks to the American tradition of toleration. The right to be Amish is part of the American Constitution, but so, regrettably, is the right to bear arms.

Roberts stage-managed his murderous exit, demanding sympathy and attention, self-pitying and self-indulgent, raging at God’s unfairness. But after that comes the humility of the Amish, demanding nothing but privacy, retreating into their quiet community to mourn with their ancient God. The contrast between Roberts’s deity and that of the Amish somehow compounds the horror.

Even “retreating” is such a condescending word. It’s like they’re these strange little hobbits scurrying away into their dens where they’ll be safe.

Bah. Okay, rant over. Well, before I save this, here are a couple of the lines that got me:

The Times – A final look in the coffin, then farewell with a hymn

It was a solemn occasion, but, for the Amish, a profound one. Funerals are their most important religious event, for they believe they are sending a loved one into the arms of God. …

One of the girls he shot, a 12-year-old in hospital with shoulder wounds, began talking yesterday. She told her family that Roberts told them what he was about to do as he tied them up beneath the blackboard. She said none begged for mercy. The oldest girl, a 13-year-old, said to him: “Shoot me and leave the others alone.” He shot them all.

The Times (10.4) – They are grieving, but not angry . . . and not a twitch of emotion shows. By Tim Reid<br/> Faith and mutual support will help the Nickel Mines community to cope with its tragedy

The day after the attack that left five girls aged between 7 and 13 in hospital mortuaries, their faces horribly disfigured by the bullets that killed them, and another five terribly injured, the Amish who live here took their remaining children to schools by buggy — and then retired quietly to their homes to pray…

There you see? “Retired”, not “retreated”. Anyway:

Donald Kraybill, an expert on the Amish community, said: “In many ways, they are better prepared than most Americans to deal with such a tragedy.

“They have a huge family support network. They will not get angry. The pain will be deep, but they will not have to process it alone. They will cry, but it will be in private.

“And they will believe that it is God’s will and that it is nobody else’s business.”

AP – Amish Bury Schoolhouse Shooting Victims

Though the Amish generally do not seek help from outside their community, Kevin King, executive director of Mennonite Disaster services, an agency managing the donations, quoted an Amish bishop as saying: “We are not asking for funds. In fact, it’s wrong for us to ask. But we will accept them with humility.”

There.

Date: Oct 6th, 2006 · Comments RSS · Tags: People and Current Events