Montage of varied media responses to the Nickel Mines shootings of Oct. 2, 2006, shows "Happier Days," a watercolor of Amish children outside their schoolhouse and, clockwise from bottom left, "Amish Grace," a book that explores the Amish trait of forgiveness; "The Amish Project," an off-Broadway play; "Lost Angels," a booklet of stories first publicized in the Lancaster New Era; "The Happening," a fictionalized account; "Forgiveness," another book about that aspect of the incident; "His Love Lifted Me," a CD that includes songs inspired by Nickel Mines; and a promotion for "Amish Grace," a made-for-TV movie.
From Columbine to Nickel Mines
Heaven's school is getting full.
— Verse created by an Amish father and son shortly after the Oct. 2, 2006, shootings at Nickel Mines, Bart Township.
• • •
Two nearly incomprehensible acts, one in reaction to the other, brought worldwide attention to Lancaster County's Old Order Amish community five years ago.
A milk truck driver shot 10 Amish girls, killing five, inside the West Nickel Mines School.
The Amish community immediately forgave the killer and embraced his family.
During the past half-decade, those actions have sparked thousands of newspaper articles, books, artworks, films, poems and songs.
"I can't think of any other event in North American Amish history that has generated the sustained amount of national and international media coverage and popular interest as the Nickel Mines story," observes Elizabethtown College sociologist and author Donald Kraybill.
The Amish initially were shocked by the intense international news coverage of the crime.
More than 2,000 news articles appeared in the first week following the shootings. Scores of television crews with satellite transmitting equipment descended on Nickel Mines and remained through the funerals.
The Amish were surprised again when the media and the public elevated the Amish process of unconditionally forgiving the killer and his family to heroic status.
But following those first reactions, thoughtful Amish began to worry about possible long-term ramifications.
They were concerned that books and, more so, movies would sensationalize the tragedy and a religious sect that seeks no attention.
While the worst fears of the Amish have not been realized, one of the parents of the Nickel Mines children observes that a movie and one book about the event "didn't go over too well."
On a positive note, he says, "The violence has not been too graphic." On the other hand, he adds, "I'd be just as happy if nothing more is written about it."
• • •
Following the first news reports, the initial creative response to what quickly became known as "the Amish 9/11" came from the Amish themselves. They were the first to turn tragedy to poetry. On the day following the murders, a Bart Township teenager wrote these lines:
Today a tragedy came in an unforeseen way,
To a quiet country street, on an idyllic day,
And children, the innocent, lie dead on the ground,
In our frail human minds no true reason is found.
Dazed men stand and watch as helicopters are leaving,
In noiseless, green fields, the families stand grieving,
The bright sun's out of place in the wake of their crying,
Hopes have been shattered, their daughters are dying.
Songs quickly followed. A young Amish mother wrote lyrics and performed them, a cappella, in close harmony with her daughter. "Hold Onto Hope" and "Surrounded By Miracles" were especially popular and later were recorded by other groups on CDs.
Ten weeks after the shootings, the Lancaster New Era published the first detailed descriptions of the murders and the Amish response. This award-winning series of stories was reprinted in booklet form as "Lost Angels."
The first book about the incident, John Landis Ruth's "Forgiveness: A Legacy of the West Nickel Mines Amish School," explained that forgiveness and salvation go together, so it is impossible for the Amish not to forgive.
Ruth, a Mennonite college professor, minister, author and filmmaker, further proposed that the Amish had impressed the world because "a people synonymous with holding on have shown how to let go. A 'backward' people have pointed the way forward."
The second book, "Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy," was published on the first anniversary of the massacre.
Written by college professors Kraybill, Steven Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher, "Amish Grace" emphasized that the Amish literally accept the Lord's Prayer's direction to "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."
The Amish approved of the book, in part because its authors, like the reporters of "Lost Angels," quoted members of the Nickel Mines Amish community.
Also on the first anniversary, Harvey Yoder, a Mennonite author of spiritual books, published "The Happening," a you-are-there narrative of events.
The book was popular among Amish in Ohio and Indiana, but not so well favored by the Amish of Nickel Mines. They objected primarily to Yoder's use of a composite character to represent all girls in the school.
At least four other books or parts of books dealing with Nickel Mines have been published. So have a number of poems.
Ann Hostetler, a Goshen College English professor and daughter of the late sociologist John Hostetler, author of "Amish Society," penned a cycle of four "Sonnets for the Amish Girls of Nickel Mines."
The cycle concludes:
Unexpected visitors bring sunshine:
the covered casserole still oven-warm,
gleaming jars of produce from the farm
home preserved: peaches, cucumbers in brine,
blackberry jam, hard-boiled eggs stained with wine
of red-beet juice. This red will do no harm.
This giver's knock brings blessing, not alarm,
an offering to those who've lost in kind.
The scattered toys, the silent house awash
in grief that stunned a family unable
to believe what had been done.
The Amish givers ease the unlocked door ajar and rest
the box of food on the empty kitchen table.
Forgiveness is the unexpected guest.
Nickel Mines has inspired at least one dramatic work.
Jessica Dickey, a Waynesboro native and New York City actress, wrote and began performing "The Amish Project" in 2008. The play, a fictionalized version of events on and after Oct. 2, ran off-Broadway and was critically acclaimed.
The play is being performed for the first time in Lancaster County this weekend at the Ephrata Performing Arts Center. The final show will be staged at 2 p.m. today.
The tragedy has inspired several works of art.
Elsie Beiler, a Paradise artist, created related watercolors, "Happier Days," which depicts Amish children playing in a schoolyard, and "Friends Forever," which shows five Amish girls holding hands.
Glenn Blue, a state trooper who was at the schoolhouse the day of the shootings, also created a watercolor, "The Dawning of a New Day." Ten doves in the work represent the girls at the old school.
A documentary film, first aired on PBS in 2007, explored the Amish response to Oct. 2. "The Power of Forgiveness" featured stories on the Amish, the 9/11 terror attacks and peace-building in Northern Ireland.
The most controversial depiction of the Nickel Mines shooting and the Amish community's response aired on Lifetime Movie Network in March 2010.
"Amish Grace" is a fictional presentation of events loosely based on the book by Kraybill, Nolt and Weaver-Zercher. The authors were not involved in the sale of the film rights and declined to act as consultants.
The movie got several essential things wrong — for example, it suggested that the media criticized the Amish for forgiving the Roberts family — and received largely negative commentary from informed observers.
"I did not see the movie, but I heard it was very poor," observes the Amish parent. "People who did see it said it wasn't at all like the real deal."
But overall, considering what might have happened — given previous efforts to sensationalize the Amish in popular entertainment, such as the reality TV series "Amish in the City," the events and aftermath of Oct. 2 have been treated with relative respect.
"Media coverage has not been as sensationalized, as many Amish feared," notes Herman Bontrager, a New Holland businessman and Mennonite leader who has acted as a spokesman for the Nickel Mines Amish community since the shootings.
"By and large, reporters have shown respect for the community and for individuals."
Kraybill believes this additional attention has added depth to the customary characterization of the Amish.
"The media coverage and popular interest have now added forgiveness as a trait, along with plain dress and horse-drawn transportation, among other things, that defines Amish identity," he says.
The Amish parent acknowledges the value of spreading the message of compassion. The Nickel Mines Amish have met repeatedly with people from all over the world to discuss the process of forgiving.
But he says the schoolchildren and their families need no more reminders —from newspapers, books, movies or any other source — of what happened Oct. 2, 2006.
"We've had our share," he says. "It's time to move on."
He sighs and adds, "We're still healing. It's so hard to grasp what happened that day. It still seems like a dream."
