Something remarkable has happened in the wake of the school shootings in the Pennsylvania Amish community a few weeks ago. Among all the pain, the agony, and the grief, the Amish have risen and perhaps provided guidance to American culture: this is how to forgive, this is how to heal.
They showed us how to handle grief and compassion in the same body, without turning it into anger. Does anyone in America know how to do this? I found it astonishing that so many of them would attend the funeral of the suicide killer. That so many would step forward to support the family he abandoned and left behind, to the point that the killer's widow would thank them:
"Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need," she wrote. "Gifts you've given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. ... Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you."
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...).
How could they find such reserves of the heart? How did they develop such depth of soul?
In the school shootings of recent years, mainstream American communities have rallied to clean up the schools where the events occurred, vowed to re-open, and sent the kids back into the same schools. To close the schools would be to "let the killers win," goes the conventional wisdom. It has made sense to me. But compare that to the Amish response: within two weeks, the school house was gone. Torn down, hauled away. There is something in that to ponder.
Everything about the Amish families and community response to the tragedy is markedly different from mainstream America. I don't know what's "right" in such responses, but it is certainly worthy to reflect on mainstream and Amish responses, asking what we can learn about healing ourselves and healing our communities.
Check out my forthcoming book Call to Liberty: Bridging the Divide Between Liberals and Conservatives. I regularly blog at http://www.calltoliberty.net. This post was cross-posted there.