October 2, 2006. You doubtlessly remember
the terrible tragedy that occurred ten years ago on that date in Nickel Mines,
Pennsylvania. You may not have remembered the name of that small town, but that
is where ten Amish girls were brutally shot in their one-room schoolhouse.
Such a horrendous event is unforgettable.
The Shooting
Charles Roberts, a local 32-year-old man
who was not Amish, entered the school just before 10 o’clock on that Monday
morning. He released all the boys but kept the ten girls hostage. The teacher
escaped and ran for help—but to no avail.
Even though the police soon arrived, they
were unable to do anything to stop Roberts from shooting all ten of the girls.
Three died at the scene and two more died the next morning. One survived with
severe brain injury. The other four recovered and were able to go back to
school.
Donald Kraybill and two colleagues wrote a
powerful book about that school shooting and its aftermath. They titled their
book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness
Transcended Tragedy (2007). Kraybill arrived at Nickel Mines on the morning
following the shooting. The first part of the book is based largely on his
observations and interviews with many Amish and “English” people who lived in
the community.
Kraybill (b. 1946), the world’s leading
expert on the Amish, is also the co-author of a 500-page book titled simply The Amish (2013).
I first became acquainted with Kraybill’s
name when I read his 1978 book The
Upside-Down Kingdom not long after it was published. I have been an admirer
of him ever since, and reading Amish
Grace for the first time this month increased my admiration of him.
The Movie
Perhaps many of you have seen the 2010
made-for-television movie “Amish Grace” that was in part based on the book—although
the movie’s central character, and her family, was fictional. A couple of weeks
ago, June and I watched the movie for the second time and were deeply moved by
it again.
Thankfully, the shootings were not shown,
but the grief of the parents was made very evident. What was of particular
interest, and amazement for many, was the forgiving attitude of the Amish
community.
To make it a more interesting movie,
though, the fictional mother Ida, whose oldest daughter was one of the five who
were killed, at first resented the forgiving attitude of Gideon, her husband,
and the larger Amish community.
In reality, as well as in the movie, beginning
on the very day of the shooting some of the local Amish people began reaching
out to killer’s wife as well as to his father, expressing loving concern and
forgiveness. The fictional part of the movie portrayed well the positive change
in Ida’s life when her attitude changed from anger to forgiveness.
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| Gideon & Ida (from the movie) |
My Visit
More or less on a whim, the next day after
watching the movie I drove 70-plus miles to just south of Jamesport, Mo. By
chance, or providence, I met and had about an hour of delightful conversation
with Melvin Yutzy, an Amish farmer with eight children, including a daughter who
looked much like the schoolgirls in the movie.
He said an “English” friend drove to his
place on the afternoon of October 2, 2006, and told him about the shootings.
When I asked him what he thought about the forgiving attitude of the Amish in
Nickel Mines, he was in complete agreement.
Just like the Amish people Kraybill
interviewed soon after the shootings, my new friend Melvin emphasized that
forgiveness is the only option for followers of Jesus.
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| My daughter Kathy was with me and took this picture of me by the Yutzy's buggy. What do you make of the Chiefs sticker? |
