Forgiveness in the Face of Tragedy. No Questions Asked.

On October 3, 2006, in an Amish community in eastern Pennsylvania, a heavily armed milk truck driver named Charles Roberts entered a one room schoolhouse, lined up ten Amish girls ages 6 to 13, bound them and shot them execution style. A horror story indeed. However, the members of the Amish community have responded to this most agonizing event with such courage and forgiveness that they have inspired people the world over.

According to witnesses, the eldest girl in the schoolhouse, 13-year-old Marian Fisher, begged Mr. Roberts to shoot her first and let the little ones go free. Then showing wisdom and strength beyond their years, the girls began talking to the assailant, asking him why he was doing this. He told them that he was mad at God. They said they were sorry for him. Then he shot them all before turning the gun on himself. Five of the girls survived…five did not.

The Amish are a group of very devout Christians that was founded in 1690 by Jakob Ammann, a Mennonite preacher who was disenchanted with his church. Ammann quickly attracted followers from several countries. In the late 1700s they began to immigrate to the United States where they were given freedom to worship as they pleased. Today they live in very isolated communities where they shun modern conveniences such as electricity, cars, and telephones, and try to have almost no contact with “The English,” as they call the outside world.

Their deeply held beliefs in the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the stunning example of his request to God that He forgive his tormentors “for they know not what they do,” have rarely been as tested as they were in the days following this unspeakable tragedy. As Mr. Roberts’ father-in-law was leading his family in a prayer for the families of the children his son-in-law murdered, Amish family elders were encouraging their young ones not to harbor hatred toward the man who did this terrible thing but to forgive him just as Jesus Christ would have forgiven him.

Open-heartedness begets open-heartedness. The neighbors of the Amish, who previously had never set foot in their community, stepped in to help:  keeping the media at bay, driving parents to far away hospitals where their children had been taken by helicopter and lending them cell phones to get much needed information from the doctors. Meanwhile, the Amish community was sending a representative to the Roberts home to convey their forgiveness. They also requested that the fund that was being set up for all the donations that have flowed in from all over the world include the family of Charles Roberts as well.

At his daughter’s viewing, as her mother was still embalming her body, one father asked the non-Amish, who came in great numbers to mourn the loss of these young souls, if any of them knew the gunman’s family. One family said yes, they knew them. “If you see them would you please tell them that they are in our prayers.” The Amish have not questioned their commitment to forgiveness, but are practicing it, even in this time of unspeakable pain.

(Resources: 1. Ann Curry. Curry commentary. Oct. 4, 2006. www.msnbc.com. 2. Donald Kraybill, Philadelphia Enquirer; www.philly.com. Forgiving is woven into life of Amish.)

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