who's projecting?

A line from "Amish Grace" by Kraybill, Nolt and Zercher.

These simple acts of Amish grace soon eclipsed the story of schoolhouse
slaughter.

No one except the shooter was in any way responsible for the carnage, So how did the generosity shown by the Amish to the shooters family carry so much weight? It certainly was a generous and humane gesture, but for those gestures to legitimately out weigh the carnage, they would have to be chosen as an alternative to retribution. Since the shooter acted alone and there was no history of reactionary violence between any of the players involved, there is no way to equate the kind of nobility to these generous acts in the way nobility would be awarded to forgiveness that stops a cycle of revenge killings.

I have contended that the Amish didn't push the forgiveness narrative, that in fact, to have done so, is the very antithesis of what it means to be Amish.

an excerpt from "Amish Grace" by Kraybill, Nolt , and Zercher.

Mary, a young mother, explained, "Often at a viewing many people just shake
hands and don't say anything. I often say, 'We will think about you a lot.' I
don't say, 'I'm praying for you,' because that would sound to proud."

How can you reconcile the subdued tone revealed in this quote, with the idea of extending forgiveness to a mass murderer before the victims blood has dried? Isn't that a proud, even arrogant position to take? I propose that it was in fact, the police showing up with their guns and Roberts' response to their presence that evoked the dramatic forgiveness language from an otherwise passive and subdued people. I've attended a public meeting where the State Police Chaplain who responded to the shooting recounted approaching an Amish elder in the school yard. The Chaplain related that the first words out of the elders mouth were, "We forgive this person". I question whether the intent of the elders' statement wasn't more about disassociating his people from what had just happened, than it was about forgiving the perpetrator. (aside from how weird it is that he is speaking for his people about such a personal journey) Did he deduct that, (because they had called the police) they, (the Amish) were associated to the violence that resulted and the dramatic forgiveness language was his way of bailing from it as fast as he could?


Consequently I believe, "forgiveness" was a story that was foisted onto the Amish by an ignorant and callous media. The implication behind the forgiveness narrative purported by this line from "Amish Grace" is dependent on the idea that the Nickel Mines community would have decended into lawless chaos and acts of retribution if the Amish hadn't intervened. That means the creation of the "forgiveness narrative" is dependent on the perception that the Amish are one provocation away from becoming barbaric Neanderthals. At any rate, the media was more than willing to push the story, reality be damned and the viewing public hung on every word like a bunch of suckers.