Yes, I'm Gonna Talk About The Amish Thing

i wish i had anysara's eloquence of self-expression right now, and i could send off a string of exactly appropraote expletives to sum up how i feel about a person who would kill amish people.

short of that, i will just talk about one aspect of this sick incident that i have not heard mentioned yet.

all the amish want from us is to be left alone. all they want is to practice their religion and live out their lives according to their beliefs. all they want is to be free of the sickness of our society and pursue their kingdom of heaven. and the result of this shooting will be the biggest travesty of all. because when all the smoke clears, the amish will be victimized over and over again by our inquisitiveness and our desire to "help".

it's bad enough that they were victimized simply because they were "easy targets". it's more horrible that the news media is airing statements from the killers family about what a great husband and father he was, and how he never refused to help with changing diapers. what the HELL is that? it's not like he will have a trial and the public needs to be made sympathetic to him. but his family's first impulse was CYA and the media actually helped them...

what is worse than worse is that the amish are now a media circus. the amish, who only want privacy and decency, are being expolited again and again and again because of our desire for "news". if you are going to say the public has a right to know, save it. there is plenty of stuff out there that is way more relevant to our lives than dead amish children, and we never hear a whisper of it. to compound this laqck of privacy, i'm sure it is only a matter of time until some do-gooder (with good intentions, i assure you) will make some commercialized nonsense memorial for the girls. these cutesy tributes of balloons and stuffed animals and hand-scrawled cards are gaggish even in mainstream society; i can't even imagine them being imposed on the amish. yes, sometimes victims' families find comfort in this "shared" mourning. but the amish are not us. they have their own ways and their own comforts and their own everything. these memorials are erected by those who feel powerless in their own anger/grief/remorse/sadness/whatever and want to DO something.

well, i say do something else. leave the amish alone. leave the town and the hospital staff and the families alone.

if you really want to help the amish, work on our society. make this world a place where the amish separate themselves to elevate themselves and not to hide from us. make this a world where killers and their families don't get extra airtime and grief doesn't sell newspapers. make this world a place where justice is just and not just politically expedient or, worse, politically correct.

you want to honor the amish? stop worshipping yourself and learn to honor your Self.