by 4 people |
Amish Heartbreak
The horrible tragedy of the Amish school shooting is surely a defining event for that community in the modern age.
It has also raised the question, "What kind of country has America become?"
The massacre has sent shockwaves throughout America, and even through the world, and the generous and heartfelt support for the Amish victims, their families, and the Amish community at large is a hopeful sign of how Americans care for one another.
Another question that has been raised is, "Where is God in all of this?" When I was at university, this question was raised in theology class. The professor answered, "God is where the suffering is." God is with the Amish people.
This lense is dedicated to assembling all the information relevant to this horrifying event, for the purposes of making it available to anyone who needs it. I have been very blessed to know many in the Amish community, to work with them, and to share some part of their lives. They are simply the finest group of people that I have ever known.
This event pierces through to the core of what it means to be Amish, and while the Amish have so graciously forgiven the perpetrator, it still represents a painful event that must be carried, grieved, and prayed about.
Feel free to leave feedback as I work on this lense, give your suggestions, and even to post your sentiments to the Amish here.
Virginia Tech
The Amish Showed us How to Forgive
Amish Furniture
Amish Furniture made by the Amish in Indiana and O more...2 points
The Bloodbath Continues!
What will it take to end the bloodlust?
Now we have another shooting at a school, this time Virginia Tech. Tell us what you think is necessary to end the senseless killings, protect our schools & children, to transform America into a safe and decent place for everyone.
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- BFuniv.com BFuniv.com Oct 17, 2009 @ 4:05 am
- There is real pain here, from a great tragedy. Blame can be shared by all of us to a degree, not just the shooters -- but also repressive schools, the casting out of God and then expecting him to still influence, a sensationalist media that gives shallow but dramatic attention: creating copycat motivations, and a host of other problems. Each of these feeds on and is compounded by many other causes.
My prayers are with the Amish, and with others that have and will continue to suffer.
"One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation." - Thomas B. Reed (1886)
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- samita samita Apr 27, 2009 @ 10:26 am
- Oh my gosh what horror this all is.I feel so much pain for these children and the people..
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- daidamia daidamia Nov 24, 2008 @ 1:39 am
- The lens is informative. I really felt. I have ever come across such a good lens. And it is attractive. Feel free check out my the afterschoolhelp blog.
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- Frank DeRuyter Frank DeRuyter Jun 29, 2007 @ 10:03 pm
- What happened to responsibility? Do the American People have to learn it from Police, Metal Detectors, more Police Patrols, Hall Monitors with guns, Teachers, Parents, Religious People; just WHO? When does this lesson start, after more violence? THINK, Who do WE hurt by not taking RESPONSIBILITY?
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- cheyenne cheyenne May 9, 2007 @ 8:11 am
- if everyone cared, nobody cried everyone loved nobody lied
The Effects on the Amish
Already a reticent people...
While the Amish so gracefully forgave the murderer, and was an incredible support for the family of that man, the shooting has left tangible effects across the board in the Amish community.They were already a reclusive people, fairly hidden away in their communities and lifestyles. Now, even more than before, they are showing reluctance in their dealings with the 'English,' which is what they call the rest of us.
Perhaps this is one sign of a 'balkanization' of America, a salad-bowl of different communities with different, sometimes clashing, interests opposing one another and their cultures?
The Deceased Victims
The Victims- a bleeding heart for each.Naomi Rose Edersole, 7
Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12
Marian Fisher, 13
Mary Liz Miller, 8
Lina Miller, 7
The Third School Shooting in a Week
Notice at the end the Amish and rescuers lining up, to search the fields in case an injured child got away and needed help.
Local Coverage
- WGAL.com - News - Police: 'He Intended Not To Walk Out Of There Alive'
- Lancaster Local News Reporting of the initial incident.
- WGAL.com - News - Police Release Names Of Slain Children
- Deceased victims identified.
- Partial Text of Suicide Note
- Suicide note is released in part.
- Wife's Statement
- The statement the wife released to the press.
- Local Reports of the Timeline
- The timeline of events as monitored by the local press and the police commissioner.
- AP Wire | 10/02/2006 | Gunman kills 3, then self at Lancaster Co. Amish school
- Philly.com coverage AP.
The Crime Scene
There was Blood on Every Desk
"We think it was God's plan and we're going to have to pick up the pieces and keep going," he said. "A funeral to us is a much more important thing than the day of birth because we believe in the hereafter. The children are better off than their survivors." Emergency Workers Description As the News Broke Worldwide
CNN Coverage
- CNN.com - Timeline of Amish school attack - Oct 3, 2006
- Charles Carl Roberts IV had planned the fatal attack on an Amish schoolhouse Monday "at least two or three days in advance," State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller told CNN.
What is going on in our Country?
On the High Jewish Holy Day....
(In the Jewish Tradition it occurred on Yom Kippur. In the Catholic Tradition it happened on the Guardian Angels Feast Day. Lensmaster)
USA Today Coverage
- USATODAY.com - Amish seclusion shattered by school slayings
- The rural seclusion the Amish have here in central Pennsylvania's rolling hills was shattered Monday by the execution-style shooting of three Amish girls in a one-room schoolhouse.
- USATODAY.com - Fifth child dies of wounds from shootings at Amish school
- Two more young girls died today from shootings at a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster, Pa., raising the death toll to five from execution-style killings by a neighbor who police said was angry at life.
- USATODAY.com - Gunman told wife he had molested, dreamed of doing it again
- The gunman who killed five girls in an Amish schoolhouse on Monday confessed to his wife by cellphone from the scene that he had molested underage female relatives years ago and had dreams of molesting again, police said today.
A Columbine Parent respond to the Amish Massacre
Pain upon pain...
Freaky Things
Devil's Horns on the Amish School Murderer
A very brief moment when pure evil exposes its complete hold on a soul
Meditations
by friends of the Amish
Various meditations on the school massacre by people who know the Amish.
- ReligionAndSpiritality.com - Christianity Commentaries
- My Amish neighbors: Commentary. Faith in a Fragmenting World.
- Sexual Lust & Blood Lust
- But if human beings have known of the connection between sexual sin and death for "long generations," it seems the modern world has a very convenient case of amnesia. Is anyone in the media even willing to admit the connection between sexual lust and blood lust? Is anyone even talking about this as the root of the problem?
All I've heard from the likes of Dr. Phil and countless school officials is that we need to beef up security at our schools, as if lack of security were the problem. It's as if we would rather become a police-state than examine our consciences. - The True Religion of Peace by Doug Patton
- The temptation to comment on the sleaze currently oozing out of Washington in the battle for control of Congress, tainting the guilty and the innocen
- BillingsGazette.com :: Though God is in control, there are no easy answers
- Why the Evil?
BBC Coverage
- BBC NEWS | In Pictures | In pictures: Amish school shooting
- Images from the Amish school shooting in the US state of Pennsylvania.
- BBC NEWS | Americas | Tight-knit Amish shaken by attacks
- The Amish people who have shunned the modern world struggle to cope with the impact of the school shootings.
- BBC NEWS | Americas | How the Amish shooting unfolded
- Pennsylvania police commissioner Jeffrey Miller explains how the fatal Amish school shooting unfolded.
- BBC NEWS | Americas | US killer in sex abuse confession
- A gunman who attacked a US Amish school said he molested two young members of his family 20 years ago.
- BBC NEWS | Americas | Fatal shooting at US Amish school
- A gunman shoots dead four girls before killing himself in an attack on a Pennsylvania Amish school.
- BBC NEWS | UK | US school shooting dominates
- The papers consider the killings of several children in a Amish community schoolhouse in the US.
- BBC NEWS | Programmes | Radio Newsroom | A review of the newspapers
- From the Sun, to the Times and the Daily Telegraph. Find out what's making the headlines with our newspaper review.
- BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | What the papers say
- A look at Amish school shooting in Northern Ireland and other international papers.
The Amish are Innocents
"Welcome to Our World"
NYT
- first news
- breaking news
- Perpetrator's Motives
- Perpetrator's motives of molestation
- Dept of Education
- NYT article- school shootings defy explanation
- President Organizing Summit
- Bush is organizing a school violence summit
- Outside world
- Outside world crashes in on the Amish
- 3 school shootings in a week
- editorial using Amish tragedy to argue for gun control laws that wouldn't have helped those children anyway.
MSNBC Video Coverage of the Tragedy
What Do You Say To Your Kids?
Killer had dreams of molesting again
Can We Achieve School Safety?
Amazing Grace Amid Devastation
Amish Community Reeling
Friend Tells of Tragedy's Impact on the Amish
Killer's Suicide Note Reveals Attack Plans
Why Did The Amish Shooter Snap?
Somber Vigils Morning Program
Police Name Shooting Victims
How To Talk To Your Kids About the Shooting
Amish Community Mourns School Deaths
No Anger Toward PA Shooter
Killer had dreams of molesting again
Can We Achieve School Safety?
Amazing Grace Amid Devastation
Amish Community Reeling
Friend Tells of Tragedy's Impact on the Amish
Killer's Suicide Note Reveals Attack Plans
Why Did The Amish Shooter Snap?
Somber Vigils Morning Program
Police Name Shooting Victims
How To Talk To Your Kids About the Shooting
Amish Community Mourns School Deaths
No Anger Toward PA Shooter
Amish Horror
The English Reach Out to the Amish
The English, as the Amish call the rest of us, have been very moved by the horrendous massacre. Here are some of the ways we are reaching out to offer our love and comfort.
- wfn.org | ABCUSA: American Baptists Extend Sympathy to Amish Community
- VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 10/4/06)-The American Baptist Churches USA extend
their sincerest Christian sympathy to our Amish brothers and sisters in
Lancaster County, PA, in their time of mourning and sorrow in the
aftermath of the shootings at the one-room school house on October 2,
2006.We ache that s - CNN.com - Donors pitch in to help grieving Amish community - Oct 6, 2006
- More than $550,000 has poured in from around the world to help an Amish community recover from a schoolhouse shooting Monday in which five girls were killed and five others seriously injured, according to an agency managing the donations.
- Bishop says Catholics praying for Amish community after shooting - Catholic Online
- Catholics Praying for the Amish
- Solution Tree Sends Crisis Management Expert to Grieving Amish Community
- PR: Shattered town receives unexpected support from leading authority on school emergencies. Bloomington, IN (PRWEB) October 12, 2006 -- Less than a week after a gunman targeted innocent children in a one-room Amish schoolhouse, www.solution-tree.com [Solution Tree] , a publishing company located in
- Mormanity: Praise for the Christian Faith of the Amish Community
- Mormanity
Discussions of Mormons and Mormon life, Book of Mormon issues and evidences, and other Latter-day Saint topics. Thursday, October 05, 2006 Praise for the Christian Faith of the Amish Community
Many people and corporations are making contributions to charities to help the Amish - Students help out Amish victims
- Students raise funds to help victims of Nickel Mines massacre.
- Amish School Shooting Prayer Binders to be Delivered In Person Today
- October 23, 2006 Amish School Shooting Prayer Binders to be Delivered In Person Today By Michael Ireland
- Raising money for the victims
- Bikers raised a lot of money to help the survivors
Memoriam
Dignified.
Effects on the Amish
The facts are one thing, but what will the Amish do now? Will they make changes in how they school their children? Will they adopt security technology? Put phones in the schools? We'll be watching for those answers here.
- Amish schools not likely to modernize - Yahoo! News
- The quaint, one-room schoolhouses that dot Pennsylvania's verdant countryside are yet another expression of Amish simplicity in a time when some mainstream public schools rely on electronic buzzers and metal detectors to keep students safe.
- CNN.com - Timeline of Amish school attack - Oct 3, 2006
- Charles Carl Roberts IV had planned the fatal attack on an Amish schoolhouse Monday "at least two or three days in advance," State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller told CNN.
- Strong Faith & Community
- For those critical of faith, the Amish are an example of religion applied and lived well. As discussed in the NYT, that faith makes them able to cope unusually well. We can all learn a lesson from the Amish!
- An Amish Community Grieves for Its Little Ones - washingtonpost.com
- BART TOWNSHIP, Pa., Oct. 4 -- All day they trudged across the dusty farm fields here -- white-bearded Amish patriarchs, women in black dresses and white bonnets, strapping young men with cropped hair and tanned arms.
- Amish Struggling with Forgiveness in Wake of School Shootings
- The Amish are human like the rest of us, struggling with their loss
- NPR : Amish School: No Precedent for Shocking Tragedy
- Melissa Block talks with Professor Mark Dewalt of Winthrop University in South Carolina. Dewalt, who has studied one-room schoolhouses and Amish education in the United States and Canada for 20 years, has just finished a book on Amish education. For his research, he spent time in the schoolhouses of
- Pacifism or Protection?
- Anabaptist Response to Amish School Shooting?
- Lancaster Online.com: Complete Coverage of the Nickel Mines Tragedy : Amish pick site for new school
- Spot near shooting. Security measures may not be added.
- kyw.com - Pennsylvania Wire
- new Amish schoolhouse
- Amish Shooting Donations Top $3 Million | Christianpost.com- Christian News Online , Christian World News
- Amish Shooting Donations Top $3 Million
- Mennonite youth pit nonviolent Jesus against gun culture
- Mennonite Young People & Societal Gun Problems
- 6abc.com: Amish Shooting Home for Xmas
- Amish Shooting Home for Xmas
- Rebuilding the Schoolhouse
- The Amish to Speak Publicly about Forgiveness
- Informing Central Ohio.
Miscellaneous Coverage
Of Interest
A variety of places gave coverage
- VOA News - Amish Maintain a Simple Lifestyle
- Voice of America
- An Amish Community Grieves for Its Little Ones - washingtonpost.com
- BART TOWNSHIP, Pa., Oct. 4 -- All day they trudged across the dusty farm fields here -- white-bearded Amish patriarchs, women in black dresses and white bonnets, strapping young men with cropped hair and tanned arms.
- Side by Side - washingtonpost.com
- PARADISE, Pa., Oct. 4 Morning always had a predictable sound here, a comforting refrain -- the lowing of cows in the dairy barns, the laughter of children hurrying down country lanes, the peal of school bells in the distance.
- Amish display the true meaning of forgiveness - Nightly News with Brian Williams - MSNBC.com
- Even after the horrific tragedy that befell them, the Amish are quick to forgive, burying their anger even before they bury their children. NBC's Ann Curry reports.
- The Amish Legacy of Forgiveness
- Author and Mennonite minister John Ruth offers an inside perspective on the Amish community's response that stunned the world after a sensless school shooting.
Freak Extremist Group Extorts Broadcast Time
Threatens Picket of Amish Massacre Funerals!
I quote from the Kansas City Star: "HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Kansas church group that routinely pickets military funerals has dropped plans to demonstrate at funerals of five Amish girls fatally shot in an attack on their one-room schoolhouse. Instead, members of the Westboro Baptist Church issued a statement Wednesday saying a representative will appear on a nationally syndicated radio talk show. The Web site of show host Mike Gallagher indicated that the group was offered an hour of airtime on Thursday morning in exchange for dropping the planned demonstration. In preparation for the demonstration, Gov. Ed Rendell said earlier Wednesday that he appealed to the Topeka, Kan.-based group to allow the Amish to conduct their funerals in privacy. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church routinely picket military funerals, saying that American servicemen and women are dying overseas because God is displeased that the United States tolerates homosexuals."It is bad enough that this group chooses to harass the family members of deceased military personnel to draw attention to themselves. However, in the case of the Amish children's massacre, there can't be a justification by any wildest stretch of the imagination. The Amish are pacifists and, as their actions have shown, far more Christian, and far more forgiving, than any member of Westboro Baptist Church. To use the brutal murders of innocent little girls to forward their own agenda is, effectively, prostitution to self-centered and blood thirsty evil.
The Amish Under Siege
Monsters wanted to picket the Amish funerals.
Freaky Things
Freaks of Nature
- AP Wire | 10/04/2006 | Protesters drop plans to picket Pa. Amish funerals
- Protesters drop plans to picket Pa. Amish funerals
- WARNING PAGE
- --> A Letter to the Earthdwellers
"God Loves Everyone" - The Greatest Lie Ever Told
GodHatesFags.com - Westboro Baptist Church
- Their Press Release about cancelling the scheduled picketing- in consideration of the broadcast time.
- Mike Gallagher: Welcome to Mike's Home On The Web
- The talk show host that saved the Amish families from those terrible pickets at the funerals. Their interview is Oct 5, 2006.
On the website: "The Westboro Baptist Church planned to protest the funerals of the Amish school children. Shirley Phelps-Roper and Mike have agreed that the church will not protest at the funerals in exchange for an hour of airtime--Oct. 5th at 10am est--on the Mike Gallagher Show. " - Gallagher's Blog Entry
- Fred Phelps Sinks Lower Still
- Black Five
- The intention of Fred Phillips of Westboro Baptist Church
What the Tennessee Editorial misses is that the intent of the hateful, ignorant Fred Phelps and his "church" is to get funds from filing law suits against anyone who assaults him or his followers. His wife is his attorney. - 'Amish' threats close some Mercer County schools - Newsday.com
- Some Mercer County schools canceled classes on Election Day after authorities, who received letters threatening violence like the recent Amish school killings, worried that with voters coming on campus to cast ballots they couldn't guarantee security.
They Forgave Because They Want To Receive Forgiveness!
When asked, the Amish made it clear that EVERYONE needs forgiveness from God. They take it seriously when they pray, Forgive us our trespasses, AS WE FORGIVE those who trespass against us.
Quiet Mourning
The Impact of the Amish Soul
Being Right With God.
Essays
Essays about the school massacre. It had an effect on all of us
- AxisofLogic/ Religion/World View
- Finding Clarity in the 21st Century Mediaplex!
- The State News - www.statenews.com
- Americans can learn from Amish community's response to shooting
- Amish People - From America's Dutch Country a Lesson for the Whole World. Religion, free articles, articles, authors, credit reporting, free reports. In early October 2006 Charles Carl Roberts a 32 year old truck driver brutally shot down five young Amish Girls in the town of Nickel Mines Pennsylvania. Following this slaughter of innocent children the news media made fair coverage but the tragedy was quickly overshadowed by the news about e-mails sent to a congressional page by Florida congressman Mark Foley ...
- Free articles and free reports archive. Free articles and free reports by thousand authors
- DAILY SOUTHTOWN :: Guest Columnists :: 'If necessary, use words'
- Amish village teaches lesson - CJOnline Blogs
- Amish village teaches lesson
Amish village teaches lesson - Pax Christi USA >> News >> Statements
- Sr. Joan Chittister
- Cross-Currents » Not Always Divine
- Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb
- The Real Cause of School Shootings - theTrumpet.com
- Saturday, April 28, 2007
Check Our Hearts
Amish Girls face Difficult Recovery
AP NewsBreak: Dr.: Amish shooting survivors face tough recoveryBy: MARK SCOLFORO (Wed, Nov/15/2006)
HARRISBURG, Pa. - All five Amish girls who survived last month's schoolhouse massacre that killed five of their classmates suffered severe gunshot wounds with long-term implications, a physician familiar with their medical treatment said Wednesday.
Two were severely wounded in the head, said Dr. D. Holmes Morton, a pediatrician and director of the Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg.
A neurosurgeon told him about a week ago that one of the two was expected to remain in the rehabilitation facility at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia until December. The other is living at home, being tended to by her family, but her prognosis is not good, said Morton, who has been closely involved in her treatment.
"Hers is almost a case of palliative care," he said.
Morton said the other three survivors have "face and limb wounds that will be disabling for a long time, if not permanently."
"They're kids who are pretty damaged and will have long-term consequences for these wounds," he said.
Morton described the girls' injuries to The Associated Press on Wednesday, the first time a physician with firsthand knowledge of their care talked about their recoveries.
Morton's clinic is about four miles from the scene of the Oct. 2 attack at West Nickel Mines Amish School in which five girls were killed. The 32-year-old gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, committed suicide as police surrounded the one-room Amish schoolhouse where he had barricaded himself.
One girl's shoulder joint was so badly damaged she may not recover the use of her arm. Another girl was wounded in the face, but did not suffer brain damage and is recovering "pretty well." There were also pelvic and hand wounds, he said.
Dr.: Amish shooting survivors face tough recovery
With Another One Threatened.....
What Kind of Country Have We Become??????
And NEVER forget Beslan...
Isn't it time to take a serious look at ourselves?
Isn't it time to take a serious look at ourselves?
Since Columbine
Over 32 school shootings since Columbine with the reason why. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shootings#Notable_school_massacres
curated content from YouTube
Amish News Feed
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Angels Help Amish Shooting Victims
Angels in the schoolhouse: Amish find miracles in tragedyBy Ad Crable
Lancaster New Era
Published: Dec 22, 2006 3:03 PM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Unspeakable horrors have visited the Nickel Mines Amish community. But so too, many believe, have miracles.
The night after her older sister Marian was buried, little Emma Fisher had a dream. Marian appeared to her in heaven. So did her uncle, who had died of cancer; his firstborn, Reuben, a crib-death victim, and her great-grandfather.
She had never laid eyes on the latter three. But she insisted she recognized them all.
It wasn't the first otherworldly experience for the 9-year-old. Only days earlier, as Charles Carl Roberts IV held 11 little girls at gunpoint in the West Nickel Mines School, Emma heard a voice tell her to run.
She did, escaping out a side door while Roberts struggled with a window blind.
Emma insisted a visitor gave her the instructions. But the woman said she never said anything to Emma, and none of the other survivors remembers anyone speaking at the time.
"The angels told Emma to go out," said a relative of two girls killed in the shootings. "She is being prepared for something by God," she declared, referring to both incidents.
According to a correspondent in Die Botschaft, an Amish newspaper, as four visiting women fled the school after being released by Roberts, they looked back and saw an angel hovering above the schoolhouse.
And the night after the shootings, the schoolteacher, who also escaped, was unable to sleep until she drifted off and saw her schoolroom filled with angels.
Some consider it miraculous that shooting victim Rosanna King is alive. Days after being shot in the head, she was taken off a breathing machine and doctors at Hershey Medical Center released her to be taken home to die.
Although the prognosis for recovery is not good, no one expected her to be alive today.
"It's really been a miracle that she's pulled through," said one of the girl's relatives.
"The doctors can't believe it. They never saw a patient like her," said a family friend.
There are subtle wonders, too.
Outside Nickel Mines, an Amish woman greeted two visitors with a bouquet that included sprigs of white lilac, a spring flower that had blossomed in late October.
"I see these as connected to the girls," she said. "They are so pure and so white."
Home For Christmas
NICKEL MINES, Pa. (AP) - December 22, 2006 -
An Amish girl who has been hospitalized for nearly three months after being shot during a gunman's fatal attack on her one-room schoolhouse returned this week for her classmates' annual Christmas party and went home from the hospital on Friday. Sarah Ann Stoltzfus was back for a visit at West Nickel Mines Amish School on Monday to hear her fellow students entertain their parents with about a dozen Christmas songs - a scaled-back version of their annual celebration, said Leroy Zook, the father of teacher Emma Mae Zook.He said Sarah Ann was released from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on Friday, three days before Christmas. She would be the last of the five wounded girls to be sent home. Five other Amish girls were killed in the Oct. 2 massacre.
After the shooting, Sarah Ann was able to speak only in the Pennsylvania German dialect, Zook said, but she has gradually regained the ability to speak English as well.
"You get it back the way you learned it, that's what they said," he said.
Sarah Ann's 12-year-old sister Anna Mae was among the girls, ages 7-13, killed by neighborhood milk-truck driver Charles Carl Roberts IV, who also killed himself. Three other shooting victims have returned to school, but doctors have said the fifth girl who was shot is fully disabled. Classes are being held in a temporary facility near where the school was located before it was torn down in the wake of the attack. "No trespassing" signs that line the fence along White Oak Road are the only indication of the crime scene's location. Daniel Stoltzfus, whose daughter Rachel is back at school after being shot, said he attended the school Christmas party with mixed emotions. "She's doing good, we're doing good - just trying to get back," he said. The Christmas party is an annual rite at West Nickel Mines Amish School, with relatives and neighbors invited to watch the students perform plays with Biblical themes and enjoy light refreshments. But the attack put the surviving students behind in their studies and left them little time to rehearse, so teacher Emma Mae Zook decided to scale back the production this year, her father said.
Leroy Zook said in the past month he's noticed steady improvement in the students' state of mind, and like them, their teacher has had both good days and bad. On Monday, she delivered thank-you cookies to the local state-police barracks, he said.
Home for Christmas
Darrell Scott
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 6:19 PM
Subject: Darrell Scott Tetimony
Subject: Darrell Scott Testimony
DARRELL SCOTT TESTIMONY
Guess our national leaders didn't expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:
" Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and t h e other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.
"The f irst recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they n eed to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy-it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. "I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:
Subject: Darrell Scott Tetimony
Subject: Darrell Scott Testimony
DARRELL SCOTT TESTIMONY
Guess our national leaders didn't expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:
" Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and t h e other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.
"The f irst recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they n eed to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy-it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. "I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:
Darrell Scott Continued
Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!
"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and reek havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theologica l seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately lo ok for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restr ictive laws. "Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.
"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes-He did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer w a s brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA - I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!
"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and reek havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theologica l seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately lo ok for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restr ictive laws. "Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.
"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes-He did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer w a s brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA - I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can
by Margaret_Schaut
Who has reacted to such a monstrous horror as the Amish did? We pray for them, for their children, and for the survival of that wonderful community... (more)
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