The Lessons Of September 11

Someone once told me that hating him would be like drinking poison and hoping someone else would die. -- Rudy Tomjanovich George Bush refers to something he calls "the lessons of September 11." I'm not sure what these lessons are (although others have offered some suggestions). As best as I can tell, the President seems to think that "the lessons of September 11" means "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here." There is, of course, a much better lesson to be learned from September 11. The Amish know this lesson. They taught it to us all earlier this month. When a 32-year old milk-tank truck driver shot and killed five young girls, the Amish community in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania did something unthinkable: they forgave the murderer. Even more extraordinarily, that Amish community reached out to the family of the murderer, going so far as to set up a college fund for his children. In doing so, this Amish community has acted in a way that few other U.S. Christians have in the five years since September 11. They have responded as Jesus might have.