Amish Schoolhouse Murders

Tragedy in Pennsylvania October, 2006 I watched 34 carriages and buggies snake toward three empty hand-dug graves. "Our lives are shattered," is quoted as an entire nation gazes in horror, and one church hosts a prayer vigil. The iron wheels of a horse-drawn hearse tracks the same route taken by the milk wagon, and winds past the shooter's house. One sister had begged, "Shoot me first." Her younger sibling said, "Shoot me next," hoping to save the others. Hate-filled rhetoric spills over air waves, thwarts picket plans of misguided religious fanatics, and spares gentlefolk further pain. Two sisters share a common grave; a young girl is brought home to die in peace. Gracious, forgiving, old-world Amish invite the shooter's family to witness their daughters' final farewell. Naomi Rose, the only girl in an all boy family, is laid to rest.