sadness

When I tell people where I work, they often say, "Isn't that a dangerous neighborhood?" or "Aren't you afraid to be in that area when it gets dark?" or "Don't you worry about the gangs/drugs/gunfights?" Well... yeah... sometimes. Honestly, I don't often think about how "dangerous" the neighborhood is until other people mention it. They do have a point. It's not the most ideal area for a child to call home. Certainly not like the neighborhood where I grew up.

But then you turn on the news and hear a story about a man who walked into a tiny one-room schoolhouse in Lancaster one morning, who tied up little Amish girls and shot them execution style. Because he was upset about something that happened twenty years ago. And you have to think, is there really such a thing as a "safe" neighborhood or a "safe" school?

News reports say the man molested family members when he was 12, and he dreamed about doing it again. I can't imagine why he thought killing little girls he didn't know could make that twenty-year-old demon go away.

And above all, the part of the story that hits me the hardest is that there were no family members on TV, crying and vowing revenge, like you usually see in this situation. Instead, members of the Amish community went to the family of the murderer and offered their forgiveness. Wow.

It's just incredible. And incredibly sad.