Nickel Mines Shooting

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Book Review: The Happening by Harvey Yoder

Today marks a year since the Nickel Mines School shooting.  Ten girls were shot.  Five perished.  Five lived on.  A community was rocked by an unthinkable loss.  The world watched and learned a rare lesson in forgiveness and grace. ‘The happening’ is the name local Amish attached to the event, and The Happening is author Harvey Yoder’s attempt to reconstruct, order, and make sense of…

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Fending off the city folk

Most Amish have a fairly healthy attitude toward tourism–and tourists can mean different things to different Amish–a slight annoyance for some, a significant profit source for others, a chance for an interesting conversation for another bunch. Lancaster Amish by far have the most to deal with when it comes to visitors, though if you get out of the heavily-trafficked areas such as Amish tourism capital…

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iPods, Amish abuse, and sketchy journalism

The stories are heartbreaking.  You feel for the victims.  It’s hard to imagine what they’ve been through. But at the same time, a 20/20 piece on Amish abuse from a few years back points to the generalizations that many journalists rely on to tell their story. The 20/20 folks lean heavily on cliches and misconceptions–from the ominous opening music, to the overplayed stories they trot…

Uncommon Grace

Three months on, and the accolades and articles continue to pour out lauding the Nickel Mines Amish. What a powerful example. Powerful because in their forgiveness of the killer, they gave up all claim of moral superiority. The Amish were essentially saying that yes, we hurt, but we will heal.  We will forgive–that is always the first step. This was not the first time the…