Today’s post is from June at Schimelpfenig Library:
Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald B. Kraybill
Amish Grace was written by three Amish scholars. Part one deals with the October 2006 school shootings in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. The second two-thirds of the book explore the concept of forgiveness in general and forgiveness as it applies to the Amish.
In my own lifetime, I’ve learned that forgiveness, like love, is an act of the will. The more difficult processes are dealing with grief, pardon, and resentment. Resentments are particularly deadly for one’s emotional health. Malachy McCourt once said that “Having resentments is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”
Reading why the Amish forgive and how they deal with their anger and resentments is a walk through grief which eventually culminates in acceptance but not forgetfulness.
Reading this book was an opportunity to gain a better insight into the Amish and their ability to forgive. No one prepared me for the tears of empathy I shed in the first part of the book. They were tears of healing, and ones I do not regret.
2 responses so far ↓
Chantal // March 26, 2008 at 5:50 pm |
Great review. I’ve read several things by Kraybill (The Riddle of Amish Culture) & have seen the film Devil’s playground. Before then, I knew nothing about the Rumspringa tradition.
I’m looking forward to reading this one.
Mennonite Roundup: Young anabaptist radicals feeling neither young nor radical nor anabaptist // March 30, 2008 at 9:03 pm |
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