Learning From The Amish

The Amish's reaction to the tragedy of the phenomenon of school shootings visiting their lives is a lesson for all of us.

This Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Amish community has already:

- refused most interviews to the media, because their image is not to be recorded by cameras,

- forgiven the shooter,

- visited the family of the shooter to see if they need support, bringing food and other comforting items to them, and

- openly said they will be using mental health services.

Also, quite instructively, this Amish community has decided that they will be not using the school (the site of the shooting) ever again, and will be tearing it down so it will not be a permanent memorial to remind their children of their trauma.

Wise people.
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Update:
Reporter Mike Wereschagin, in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on Friday, October 6, 2006, writes:

To preserve privacy, police and volunteer fire companies set up checkpoints on roads around Amish homes and the cemetery, said Duane Hagelgans, spokesman for the South Central Pennsylvania Task Force, a state emergency management agency. A state police airplane and helicopter patrolled the airspace above, keeping news helicopters away. Journalists were kept in or around Georgetown United Methodist Church, a small, white building bordered by Amish farms and a hamlet of about 20 homes.