Something we can learn from the AmishOct 11, 2006

Kenneth Bernstein

I know that what most people will remember from last night’s Keith Olbermann will be yet another special comment.  What I will remember equally is their sense of forgiveness.

Keith ran a piece on the community and their response to the tragedy.  The family of one of the dead girls invited the wife of the shooter to attend the funeral of their daughter.  And the grandfather of a dead girl was shown, obviously still in great pain, saying that he had forgiven the shooter in his heart.

Perhaps one thing tragically wrong with American culture as a whole, and our political culture in particular, is our unwillingness to forgive.  Please note, I am not arguing that there are not occasions when we must take actions that are those of retribution.  But our culture seems imbued by far too much of a sense of blood lust.  We want blood and suffering in return for what we believe we have undergone, usually not realizing that satisfying that lust rarely brings us peace.

Here I acknowledge that this comment is shaped in large part by my current religious orientation -  I am a member of the Society of Friends, a Quaker.  I have come to embrace a principle that has been a part of my life for many years since I first encountered it as a freshman at Haverford in 1963, the idea of answering that of God in each person we meet.  This applies in the small encounters of life as well as the larger actions that so seem to demand in our culture the violent response.  As a teacher, when I have a student who acts out or misbehaves, if I react with force and discipline I may be able to compel a grudging conformity to my imposition of my will, but I will not gain a willingness of the student to commit to the learning environment.  Similarly, if our nation insists on displaying our massive military power, we may be able to force another nation to back down, to swallow its pride.  But in both cases, not only do we lose the ability to reach out make connections with the target of our will, we simultaneously alienate all those who observe our being a bully. 

People would have accepted the Amish being angry, although those who know them would have been surprised.  We certainly would have understood had they withdrawn in their pain and asked the larger world to leave them be.  Instead they have again offered us a Witness - of taking their wounded hearts and opening them, taking in others who hurt to share in sorrow as a means of healing pain.

Our American culture is not merely one of blood lust - were that its limit, many of us could not tolerate continuing to live here.  There is also when we open our hearts an incredible generosity.  We see this in the outpouring of support we offer - as individuals and as a nation - when others, even nations that are traditional enemies or opponents, suffer devastating natural disasters.  Our generosity has often healed much of the hurt that our pride and blood lust have caused in the hearts and minds of others.  America at its greatest is the nation that used its wealth to rebuild Europe through the Marshall Plan after WWII, or that used its military to assist the nations of the Indian Ocean after the December Tsunami.

We must start with the small actions within the reach of each of us as a means of turning our nation away from its current culture of vindictiveness and blood lust back to the generous spirit that still part of the hearts of every still sentient person.