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Storytime Tapestry Newsletter
The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural
awareness throughout the world.
Special Treat – Sam Hine
Oct 6, 2006
Sam Hine, writer number 363, assistant to our columnist Johann
Christoph Arnold has graciously joined us as our newest writer. Please welcome him in the Storytime Tapestry
fashion and please comment on his very important for first piece.
NO HIDING PLACE
Will the Amish School Shootings Change
Anything?
Sam Hine
October 4, 2006
I'm not Amish, but my children attend a small rural school that until this week
seemed safely removed from the violence plaguing most of our world.
The truth is, we're not safe anywhere. The recent shooting at an Amish school
here in Pennsylvania, only days after similar crimes in rural Colorado and
Wisconsin, makes it clear that there is nowhere we can hide from the violence,
and no one who can't be touched by it.
We need to pray for the grieving families, for the children who survived, and
for the wife and children of the killer. And we certainly can and must act to
make guns less available. But in the end, no amount of metal detectors or
school police or other security measures will be enough to prevent another
attack. No federal school violence summit will save us.
We need to look squarely at the root causes of such violence, at the evils we
tolerate daily in this violent and sick culture. I could start at the top: The
official justification of torture and sexual humiliation at Abu Graib and Guantanamo. The clear
message from our military in Iraq ("We don't
do body counts.") that the lives of people who believe and dress
differently don't count as much. The congressman preying on teenage boys on
Capitol Hill, while the leaders of the "moral majority" stand by.
Then there are the obvious culprits: The glorification of violence and sexual
predators in film. Violent video games simulating everything from Columbine to
Fallujah. The unabashed exploitation of women and young girls as sex objects in
advertising, using their bodies to sell everything from cars to beer. The news
media that love nothing better than a horrible crime--the more sadistic the
better. They wallow for days in the most salacious details, making criminals
into instant celebrities with little thought to the copycats they might
inspire.
Even more importantly, though, we each need to look in the mirror. What can I
do about all this?
The media tell us the killer was angry at life and angry at God. This
illustrates in a horrible way where festering resentment can lead. We can't do
much to make our schools safer. But we can and must look at any grudges we have
in our own lives and free ourselves from them by forgiving. We can't prevent
the excesses of Hollywood or the Internet.
But we can, though confession, bring to light the secret darkness in our own
hearts, breaking the power of evil thoughts before they grow into evil deeds.
The Amish, in their quiet way, are showing us the most fitting response to such
a horrible act. They can't find words to describe their pain, but they won't be
seeking revenge. Instead they will be turning to their faith to carry them
through. The rest of us Americans have a lot to learn from them. Their
conscious choices to eschew television, to refuse military service, to dress
modestly, and to live simply are among the sanest, most progressive, and most
hopeful responses to an insane culture that I've seen so far.
Sam Hine
Farmington, PA
samhine@mailstack.com
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