Lois Kennel's blog

By Donald B. Kraybill, Ph.D.
Text is posted on the Eastern Mennonite University's website.

The blood was hardly dry on the bare board floor of the Nickel Mines School when Amish parents sent words of forgiveness to the family of the killer who had executed their children. Forgiveness? So quickly and for such a heinous crime? Of the hundreds of media queries I've received in the past week, the forgiveness question rose to the top. Why and how could they do such a thing so quickly? Was it a genuine gesture or just an Amish gimmick?

The world was outraged by the senseless assault on 10 Amish girls in the one-room West Nickel Mines School. Why would a killer turn his gun on the innocent of the innocent? First, questions focused on the killer's motivations--why did he unleash his anger on the Amish? Then, questions shifted to the Amish. How would they cope with such an unprecedented tragedy?

Thrust into the limelight by a shocking tragedy is a quiet community seeking to be self-sufficient. So counter-culture is their lifestyle that for most people the Amish serve only as a tourist attraction. Busy caring for their families and the earth, they have now been forced to articulate to the world their core beliefs which are based on the teachings of Jesus.

Their mandate to forgive even their enemies was evident when the father of the intruder--murderer of their children—was immediately assured by an Amish spokesman, “We will forgive you.” Subsequently many Amish attended the funeral of the “enemy.” Presently we hear that monies sent them are being shared with the murderer’s family and disaster victims anywhere as determined by Mennonite Central Committee and Mennonite Disaster Service. (Rochester benefited by their compassion during the aftermath of the 1978 flood.)

Great Grandpa Henry Ruth receives SImon Kennel's greeting

At age 73 I know I’ve had several once-in- a-lifetime- experiences. Most of them occurred during my marriage to an energetic, risk-taking, curious physician with wanderlust. I refer, for example, to a 2-yr stint in Congo—then Zaire—where my husband, Art, worked for President Mobutu while I cared for our two small children and studied French at the French Embassy, 1970-72. Again I refer to my partnership with him in the llama breeding business in Rochester since 1981—I being the one who intentionally left the farm (my father’s passion) forever, upon marriage to a physician. And I’m still amazed at the births of a son and a daughter, when for eleven years it appeared our children would be adopted or “surrogates” whom I was teaching high school English.

It was fortuitous to learn that we could continue our llama breeding in the City by being classified as a Rural Service District after being annexed to the City

http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/alt-ag/llama.htm

If you are interesdted in llama breeding, you must subscribe to LLAMA BANNER magazine. Here's the website.

http://www.llamabanner.com/