This sensitive and thoughtful meditation on the horrific events of October 2, 2006, reflects on the response of the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where a gunman killed himself, five school children, and wounded five others. The tragic crime evoked expressions of shock and sympathy worldwide. But even many Christians were stunned when the Amish community, in the midst of its grieving, offered words of forgiveness toward the dead killer and his family. John L. Ruth considers that extraordinary forgiveness as the legacy of that heartbreaking day.
