EDUCATORS

EDUCATORS WITHOUT BORDERS

"If you don't know where you are going, you might end up somewhere else!"

- Yogi Berra

Photos: Tim Shaffer/Reuters Lessons From the Amish

What does turning the other cheek and forgiveness mean?

By Prof. Talaat I. Farag

One day in October brought tragedy to the Amish community and sorrow to a perplexed world that watched helplessly. A 33-year-old psychopath shot ten school girls last October at the one-room Georgetown Amish School house in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. All ten girls, aged between 6 and 13, were shot from close range "execution style" while bound together at a blackboard by Charles Carl Roberts, a madman armed with rage. The director of the Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg, Dr. Holmes Morton, said that there were five children that died, while the other five were suffering from permanent disabilities, after the school house massacre. One is fully disabled from a severe head injury. Charles Carl Roberts left a suicide note for his wife Marie, mentioning, "I am filled with so much hate, hate towards myself, hate towards God, and unimaginable emptiness." The killings have touched everyone since the highly disciplined peaceful modest Amish community, where scooters and bogeys and straw hats and suspenders present the face of a simple rural and hard-working sect to the outside world.

The normally quiet and insular community was reeling from the shock of this heinous act as the world stood confused by an egregious violation of humanity.

The Amish buried the girls in a doleful scene that looked like a 19th century tintype. Amish boys and bearded men in white brimmed hats and dark suits, girls and women in long black dresses and black mourning bonnets, stood near a huge mound of earth for the brief gravesite services. Pennsylvania state troopers on horseback were present to protect the privacy of the Amish, blocking all roads leading into the village of Nickel Mines. The families whose children had been shot or killed were in seclusion, shielded from prying reporters. The roar of official helicopters enforcing the no-fly zone within 4km in all directions, prevented reporters from interjecting in the services.

The killer's wife, Marie, is a devout Presbyterian, who leads a regular prayer group called, Moms In Touch, and had three children. She lamented her husband's act saying that her husband had attacked the most peaceful, pacifist Christian sect that live a peaceful life in the U.S. and Canada (Ontario). The local Lancaster newspaper reported on its website that the mother and grandmother of Marian Fisher, one of the young victims, welcomed Marie Roberts' aunt into their home the day after the shootings. Mrs Roberts' grandfather also attended Marian's funeral. "We know there are many hard days ahead for all the families who lost loved ones, and so we will continue to put our hope and trust in the God of all comfort, as we all seek to rebuild our lives," she wrote.

As the community struggled with the slaying of five of their innocent children, the Amish in this Lancaster country have turned the other cheek, urging for forgiveness of the killer, and quietly accepting what comes their way as God's will. The hurt is very great, but the Amish do not balance the hurt with hate. They have even reached out to the family of the gunman who committed suicide during the attack and extended forgiveness to them, convinced that judgements are in God's hands. At the behest of Amish leaders, a fund has been set-up for the killer's widow and her three children.

The Amish faced the tragedy with grace and composure. Marian Fisher, 13, asked to be shot first in the hope that the killer would let the younger girls go. And so her family invited the widow of the gunman to the girl's funeral, in the hope that they would mean healing.

Who are the Amish?

The Amish eschew most modern conveniences including telephones, computers, electricity, cars, radios, cameras, trains and musical instruments. They refused to have any members of their community join in any war, including the Vietnam War, however are proud of their nationalities. The women wear the modest bonnet and aprons and broad-brimmed hats. They are so deliberately gentle and peaceable, that they rarely defend themselves even in court proceedings, however their children are heroic in defending their beliefs.

According to some estimates, there are around 100,000-200,000 Amish followers in some 20 states in the US and in Ontario, Canada. Some sources say that there are about 1,000 baptized Old Older Amish in Canada, but their numbers are growing because they tend to have large families. There are 19 private Amish schools in Ontario. Children stay in school only until they 14, then they work on the family farm until they get married. According to Multicultural Canada, there are seven Old Older settlements in Ontario, organized into 17 congregations in Ontario. Earlier last year, several Amish families moved to Manitoba, representing the first such settlement outside Ontario.

Amish Forgiveness

Marie Roberts, the widow of the killer of five Amish girls at a school in the US state of Pennsylvania has thanked the Amish community for their love and support and saluted the Amish by saying "me and my family are overwhelmed by the forgiveness, grace and mercy shown to us following the murders on 2 October." In the letter, released by a family spokesman, Mrs Roberts says she, her three young children and the rest of her family sincerely thank the Amish for their compassion. "Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need," she expressed in a letter addressed to Amish friends, neighbours and the local community.

I extend my dearest heartfelt condolences to the Amish community for their grave losses. In a time of conflict and violence, murders and reprisals, I also wish to congratulate the Amish community for teaching us how to conquer hostility without revenge. They have been bestowed with the gift of compassion and the power of forgiveness by practicing the well-known Christian value of "turning the other cheek"--a lesson for everyone in the world today. A rarity in this day and age, the Amish have set a standard for human relations that must be emulated across our troubled world.