Amish Shooting

[Ed]

Let's hope there's a special place in hell reserved for that guy.  Yet another instance where the end should have come at the beginning - he should have shot himself in the head first and left the kids alone.

[SharonBell]

A 20-year old grudge--not against Amish, mind you. Against women. What an ass hole. He chose people without PHONES to call 9-1-1!

I agree, Blunt. I hope he gets the worst, wherever he is. 

[Geoff_N]

I find myself trying to imagine what went through those girls' minds as he started shooting them. Utter fear, obviously, maybe totally unbelieving what was happening. Too young to be completely aware of the evil - or of the finality of death? Maybe.

I feel too, not only for the helpless parents of both victims and survivors, but for those poor teachers. I can imagine, but don't like it when I do, how they must feel being forced to abandon their pupils to their fate. Gives me the creeps.

Geoff

[Steffi]

I just don't have the words...

[Prabe]

And it tells you everything you need to know about the Amish (besides the tourist trap type stuff) that they're going public asking everyone to forgive the guy who killed their daughters.

Say what you will, but they practice what they preach.

(of course, I may be biased, as my mom's family were Mennonites and I've actually interacted with Mennonites and the occasional Amish from like birth)

If I believed in a hell, I'd agree that the guy belongs there.

[DragonMom]

Not hell...  blood eagle.  Definitely.  For those of you who don't know, blood eagle is an old Norse punishment.  You take a condemned prisoner and tie him up spread-eagled between two trees - ankles and wrists, so he's stretched out, up off the ground.  Then you cut slits in his back, through the ribs, and pull out the lungs - but leave them attached.  The victim dies very slowly & very painfully as his lungs dry out.  Of course, there are some of us who consider even THAT to be too good for a guy like that.  

[Ed]

Crikey - remind me not to get on the wrong side of you   (but I agree  )

Prabe - I'm not sure I could handle the life they lead, having grown up with all the conveniences of the modern world, but I have a sneaking suspicion their lives are generally happier for their relative simplicity and their community spirit.

[Prabe]

Some of my mom's family are conservative Mennonites.  They have cars and electricity and in-house telephones, but no TV or Internet.  I've always considered trips to visit them to be a rest from all the crap that fills my life as it normally is.  It's like taking a trip to a strange land where none of my modern toys work, but without the language barrier.

And to further what I was saying about the Amish outlook, roughly half the people at the asshole's funeral were Amish coming to mourn him and what he'd been through.  I almost literally cannot imagine that happening in any other American sub-culture--at least not in such numbers and not with such sincerity.

[etrnlnite]

Not hell...  blood eagle.  

You mean that's NOT hell?  Good Lord!  (Still, I have to agree.)  He had children and still did this.  I have to say the eagle thing may still be too lenient.

[Ed]

Yeah - blood eagle + aftershave lotion, please

[DragonMom]

It's like taking a trip to a strange land where none of my modern toys work, but without the language barrier.

I could NOT handle that - I love my TV too much.  

And to further what I was saying about the Amish outlook, roughly half the people at the asshole's funeral were Amish coming to mourn him and what he'd been through.  I almost literally cannot imagine that happening in any other American sub-culture--at least not in such numbers and not with such sincerity.

Yeah, no kidding... it's hard to imagine that in this day & age.  It's my nature to see the other side of every argument, whether or not I want to, which makes me an unusually forgiving person... but I would NOT be able to forgive what this guy did.  It's admirable that they can.