On October 2, 2006, Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-year-old milk-tank truck driver and father of three, barricaded himself and ten young girls into the Nickel Mines School. Giving deadly expression to a secret rage he had harbored for years after the death of his first child, he gunned down all ten of his hostages before turning his weapon on himself.  Five of the girls would not survive.

FORGIVENESS offers an inspiring explanation of the events that followed.  In the wake of overwhelming loss, the stricken community at Nickel Mines, even the devastated parents of the victims, captivated the media with their immediate expressions of forgiveness for Roberts and concern for the well-being of his family. “The Amish approach to life centers on forgiveness,” Ruth emphasizes. “Is anger a necessary response to outrageous loss? The Amish, born with the same capacities as any other humans, would not think so. Startled by the depth of the world’s sympathy after the Nickel Mines tragedy, they wondered why so many found their attitude intriguing. Aren’t Christians to live in, not merely idealize, forgiveness?”