We Are Not All Amish

Posted on October 10, 2006 in Journalists & Pundits Violence

The nation’s media thinks it knows the real story behind the recent murder of Amish school children. As it likes to do with every newsworthy murder, it digs out every little fact about the case except the important ones. How does one move on?

The big story is that the Amish have reached out to the family of the killer. The wife of the shooter is alone after her husband’s violent episode. But the families of the girls sought her out, let her know that the spirit of love still bound them fast to forgiveness.

This has been deemed a small story, but it is the big story. A real miracle. The media just can’t conceive of the pictures. Addicted to sensationalism, it doesn’t know how to cover this.

Step one: stop the salacious followups. Step two: give credit to the survivors for their courage to live up to their Christian witness. Step three: address their own shortcomings in this department.

One pundit said that “Everyone was Amish this week.” No, only the Amish are Amish.