Wings of a Bird

Still in mourning, Amish to open new schoolhouse - N.Y. Times
5 months after slayings at school, the tightknit Pa. community forgives, rebuilds and remembers
... Confronted with tragedy, the Amish are taught to forgive and go on. And that is what the 2,700 residents of Bart Township have been struggling to do since the attack on Oct. 2.
"People don't fuss about it," Mary Stoltzfus, 36, a member of the community, said outside Fisher's Houseware and Fabrics. "It has calmed down."
Rhoads said that although the victims' families and friends had had their hearts broken, "there's no anger."
...
Ten days after the shooting, Amish leaders demolished the school building, which stood off a quiet two-lane road. And about a month later, Amish residents, including relatives of the girls who had been killed, banded together to build a one-room schoolhouse about 200 yards from the old one, on an acre of land owned by an Amish farmer.
"This is kind of a washing -- getting rid of the old and putting up the new," he said. "It's all really good stuff" for the community.
...
[original story: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/287305_amish03.html]

Labels: forgiveness, purification