Published: October 03, 2008 10:58 am         

Quiet anniversary marks tragic event

The residents of Nickel Mines, Pa., did the best and only thing they could Thursday.

They got on with their lives.

Thursday marked a grim anniversary for the Pennsylvania community. Two years ago, gunman Charlie Roberts barricaded himself and several Amish students in a one-room schoolhouse. His shooting rampage left five girls dead and five others seriously wounded. Roberts then killed himself with a 9-mm handgun.



In Nickel Mines, the anniversary was marked with little fanfare.

“We’re really going to try to go on with just a normal day,” Bart Township Fire Chief Curt Woerth told the Associated Press. “We’ve been in contact with the families — they don’t want anything, and neither do we, really.”

Actions like Charlie Roberts’ are all too common. The question of “Why?” invariably follows and goes unanswered. There isn’t one. Call it the human condition.

Those wanting to learn anything from the Nickel Mines killings would do better to look to the Amish.

The Amish — including some who lost children — offered condolences and compassion to Roberts’ family. Millions of dollars were donated in the wake of the tragedy and the Amish set aside a portion to help the gunman’s widow and children.



Compassion? Forgiveness? These aren’t outdated notions to the Amish. And by embracing them, those who lost loved ones found a way to go on living that didn’t involve living with anger.

The media — including editorial writers — is fixated on anniversaries: The seventh anniversary of 9/11, the second anniversary of the Amish school shootings, etc. Grief isn’t tied to a calendar date, though. The best survivors can do, anniversary or not, is keep going.

In Nickel Mines, they’re doing just that.