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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15241580/site/newsweek/

Since the Oct. 2 shooting of 10 Amish schoolgirls, sympathetic people have responded with an outpouring of donations to help the community in Nickel Mines, Pa., pay hospital bills and for a new school. Since last week, three Mennonite groups with close ties to the Amish have been receiving those donations.

Its in excess of one million dollars....

Where will the money go?
For medical expenses for victims—fatalities and ones who are injured. Short-term and long-term care. Transportation and lodging for family members [visiting their hospitalized children]. It could go toward making schools or homes handicap-accessible.

Also they accepted outside assistance in the demolition of the old school. Though the interview indicates that they will probably build the school outside of those funds.

Where will any extra money end up?
The Amish have been clear from step one. They don’t want to deny the blessing of people. But if there’s extra money, they’re saying in no way will we use this money to benefit the Amish community outside of the needs that arise from this tragedy. They might make contributions to services providers who assist people who do not have their own means to pay—hospital charity funds, for instance.

They also have recognized that the family of the killer are victims in this as well and they are setting aside funds to provide for them as well.

Are the Amish aware of how people have been inspired by the community’s generosity toward the killer's family?
I’ve heard them talk about that. They’re recognizing that this is an event that affects a lot of people both from grief and from its learning potential. I’m sure that many of them feel that deeply and are very very grateful for it. But an Amish person would be very reluctant to talk about "We’re teaching the world something." What they would say is, "We just did what we think we need to do as people of faith. Our actions are more important than our words."

 

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Another article about it
http://www.meadvilletribune.com/opinion/cnhinscolumns_story_286073703.html?keyword=topstory

After a deranged gunman shot several Amish school girls, the Amish gathered their children to tell them not be bitter or to hate the “English” gunman. Then they attended the gunman’s funeral and grieved with his widow and child.

 

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http://www.collegiatetimes.com/news/2/ARTICLE/7696/2006-10-11.html

What happened in Paradise, Penn. last week was the absolute furthest thing from the town’s namesake. Last Monday, a milk truck driver, husband and father took captive an Amish school, filled with small children. He let the boys and pregnant women leave, but judging from the items found in the classroom, planned terrible things for the young girls he kept hostage. He bound their hands and feet, executed five of them, then killed himself. Three of the girls died in the schoolhouse, one died in the arms of a state trooper and the fifth died at the hospital.

There is no more heinous a crime than what Charles Carl Roberts did to those girls, yet in the face of the most horrendous evil, the community of Paradise is urging forgiveness. The grandfather of one of the slain girls, when asked how he felt towards Roberts, quoted the Lord’s Prayer and said, “forgive those who trespass against us.”

A spokesperson for the Roberts family said that Roberts’ widow was contacted by the family of one of the slain girls and expressed their forgiveness and extended her an invitation to the girl’s funeral. A local Amish carriage driver, when interviewed by CNN, said, “In forgiveness, there is healing,” and expressed the opinion that the community has no desire for vengeance, but merely wishes to begin the healing process. The best way to do so, he continued, is to forgive Roberts and extend to his family their forgiveness and support.

As literally millions of dollars are being donated to the community to pay for medical bills, the Amish leadership also insisted that an assistance fund be established for the Roberts Family. In the wake of violence, these people have chosen only to show compassion and offer forgiveness.

So often, we see the families of victims of horrible crimes like this one cursing the perpetrator, or pleading for his execution in the courts. I certainly cannot look down on such people, because I have never been in their position, and I hope I never am. If it were me, and this man killed members of my family, I can’t say I wouldn’t want an eye for an eye.

But I look at these people, who are such a faithful, open and honest group and have been betrayed by someone they trusted. Yet the first thing they call for is not a cry for justice or a promise of revenge, but rather words of compassion, expressing joy for the time they spent with their daughters and forgiveness for the man who took those girls away from them. It makes me think that maybe these people, who have rejected everything that is prevalent in my life, are the ones who’ve got it right.

We should all heed the message the Amish community is sending the world: that even in the face of the worst evil, they have not succumbed to violence but have remained faithful to their message of peace and compassion. The Amish truly practice what they preach, and in a world full of hypocrisy, they are a true beacon of righteousness. The world would be a far better place if we all acted as they did, and moved on with our lives in the face of hardship and offered forgiveness to “those who trespass.” How ironic, that from the most simple of people, comes a most complicated life lesson.


Dan Sheehan,

 

[N8 v2.0]

many lessons we all can learn from there...

 

[$tinkle]

but i fail to see how this equates to "all christians aren't bad". i'm bad. bad to the friggin bone, yo.

just ask my aroma therapist.

 

[$tinkle]

i wonder how harry reid (a mormon) is going to dole out his one MEEELYUN dollar windfall

 

[DRB]

i wonder how harry reid (a mormon) is going to dole out his one MEEELYUN dollar windfall

out of my thread with your crap, jackass.

 

[$tinkle]

out of my thread with your crap, jackass.

go tell it blue; his kind thinks they're christians, just like the amish.