In September of 2006, a man walked into a one room school house full of young children in rural Pensylvania, sent all the boys and teachers out of the building, barricaded the doors and eventually shot the little girls, seven of whom died. The children were all Amish, a protestant, anabaptist religious group, most of whom are farmers and live their lives eschewing modern technology. In the aftermath of the shooting, the Amish community responded with extraordinary forgiveness, reaching out to the family of the man who had killed their children and maintaining amazing dignity in the face of intense media attention. This video attempts, through secular eyes, to make sense of their ability to react with such generosity. It was shot in the Conestoga Valley where I grew up.

link to video