Plain Evil and Plain Good

I've been thinking a lot about good and evil since I heard of the horrific deaths of five innocent schoolgirls, shot to death execution style, in a simple one room Amish school in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The killer, 32 year old Charles Carl Roberts IV, came into the schoolhouse, armed to the teeth, ordered the boys and adults out, barricaded the doors, tied the young girls feet, lined them up in front of the blackboard and shot them in the head, before shooting and killing himself.

Roberts, a milk tank driver, who wrote suicide notes to each of his three children, before arming himself with an automatic handgun and shotgun, and driving to the school which he apparently chose just because it was close by and had young girls.

The suicide notes suggested that he was acting out of revenge for an incident that happened 20 years earlier when he was 12.    Nothing can explain such a horrific death.  To say that he was obviously  "sick" seems to minimize the tragedy.  This premeditated crime was evil and there is no better word for it.    Sometimes, I think the personification of evil as the devil as more subtlety than is generally given credit.  And I don't mean "the devil made me do it."    That there are dark forces around us and in us with which we do battle is something we all know.  We continually choose between good and bad, every one of us. 

Today, four girls will be buried,  Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7; Marian Fisher, 13; Mary Liz Miller, 8; and her sister Lena Miller, 7. The funeral for the fifth girl, Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12, is scheduled for tomorrow. Each girl laid to rest in a white dress, a cape, and a white prayer covering on her head.

That there are good forces as well we can see from the Amish themselves.  Their actions humble all of us.  In the aftermath, they reached out to the family of the gunman, comforting them and extending forgiveness.    Said Gertrude Huntington, a Michigan researcher who wrote a book about Amish children, they are quietly accepting of God's will. 

"They know their children are going to heaven. They know their children are innocent ... and they know that they will join them in death. The hurt is very great, but they don't balance the hurt with hate."

One pastor who stood next to the body of a 13-year-old girl heard her grandfather tell his young boys, "We must not think evil of this man."  Such forgiveness said pastor Rev. Robert Schenck,  "Was one of the most touching things I've seen in 25 years of Christian ministry."

Descendants of Swiss and German immigrants, the Amish are Anabaptists and no strangers to tragedy which they accept as the will of God, an approach to life they call yieldedness.  They derive their strength from their faith and the mutual aid of their community.   

The Amish surmount hardship through mutual aid. When a barn burns, they do not call the insurance company. They have a barn raising, said Kimberly D. Schmidt, associate professor of history at Eastern Mennonite University, in Harrisonburg, Va., who has studied Amish women.

“For the families who lost children, there will be a tremendous community outpouring of love and support,” Ms. Schmidt said. “They will not suffer alone in their grief at all. People will bring in meals for weeks. As devastating as this is, there’s so much strength they can draw from their community.”

The Amish are self-insured and pay for all their own medical bills.  There are young girls, severely injured still in the hospital who will require long term care.    They may not be able to shoulder all the costs themselves.  They generally do not accept help from outside their community.  Said one Amish bishop, " "We are not asking for funds. In fact, it's wrong for us to ask. But we will accept them with humility."

The local newspaper reports that funds have been set up to cover the expenses of the victims and their families, including the family of the gunman.

Donations may be sent to Nickel Mines School Victims Fund, HomeTowne Heritage Bank, 100 Historic Drive, P.O. Box 337, Strasburg, PA 17579, or at any division of National Penn Bank.
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Another fund is being set up through Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Disaster Services. According to MCC’s Web site, contributions may be sent to the MCC U.S., 21 S. 12th St., P.O. Box 500, Akron, PA 17501-0500.

Donations may also be made by phone by calling 859-1151 or (888) 563-4676 or online at www.mds.mennonite.net.

If you wish to send a card or letter of condolence, address them to Bart Township Fire Company, P.O. Box 72, 11 Furnace Road, Bart, PA 17503.

Herman Bontrager, the secretary/treasurer of the National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom, said the Amish are “very appreciative” of the outpouring of help.

“They feel so humbled by it,” he said.

The Amish sometimes refer to themselves as "plain people".  What we've seen in the past week is plain goodness.