# Five Years Ago Yesterday **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 2, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342 "2011-10-02T13:36:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342/1 "2011-10-02T13:36:44Z")
A madman shot ten Amish schoolgirls, killing five. “Then he turned the gun on himself.” [Some of the wounded](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_school_shooting) are still disabled. The Amish community has exhibited extraordinary [forgiveness](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20111002_Grace_amid_the_losses.html?page=1&c=y) and grace. Would that I could be so strong in such circumstances. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342/2 "2011-10-02T15:33:14Z")
I remember when that happened. What a senseless tragedy. I think it’s great that the mother of the killer is still trying to help out some of the victims. If the community hadn’t been so willing to forgive, she probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing that. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342/3 "2011-10-02T18:13:54Z")
That’s some hardcore faith. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342/4 "2011-10-02T18:18:13Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > I remember when that happened. What a senseless tragedy. I think it’s great that the mother of the killer is still trying to help out some of the victims. If the community hadn’t been so willing to forgive, she probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing that. The community reached out to her first, immediately after the tragedy. That kind of radical forgiveness, understanding, and human kindness is the very best of what Christianity has to offer. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342/5 "2011-10-02T18:24:47Z")
These people who “go off” and shoot a lot of people, then kill themselves…why don’t they just start with killing themselves? It would spare a lot of innocent people. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342/6 "2011-10-03T03:06:49Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > These people who “go off” and shoot a lot of people, then kill themselves…why don’t they just start with killing themselves? It would spare a lot of innocent people. Many of them do; they’re called “suicides.” We have no way of knowing how many decided to kill themselves first. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342/7 "2011-10-03T03:16:56Z")
I just read the linked article and cried. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342/8 "2011-10-03T03:22:20Z")
There was a movie made about this called “Amish Grace”. Since my only knowledge about the incident comes from the news, I can’t say how accurate the movie is. More info about the movie here: > **[Amish Grace (TV Movie 2010) ⭐ 7.0 | Biography, Drama](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1559025/)** > > 1h 29m | TV-PG ---
**Author:** ![Molesworth\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Molesworth\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Molesworth_2)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/five-years-ago-yesterday/598342/9 "2011-10-03T16:24:54Z")
I remember that incident well. I started a thread about it on another forum at the time. The forgiveness that the families of the victims gave to the parents of the perpetrator was quite astonishing. Say what you like about the Amish, but they really lived by their word on that occasion. I have had immense respect for them since then. A big shout-out to all of the Amish folk here on the Straight Dope. 😉