Just heard that one of the Amish girls in the recent Pennsylvania massacre, one 13-year-old Marian Fisher, stepped forward to the gunman and said, “Shoot me first.”
Apparently she was trying to buy time for the younger girls.
In part I’m bringing this up because of our recent discussion on this blog about self-sacrifice in religion.
Also, I'm thinking about “culture” -- the overall life ways of a people. Culture is hugely important, yet few understand it. Are Marian Fisher and other Amish genetically distinct? Is genetics behind their non-violence and monumental courage?
Not on your life. They’ve just been stuffed and saturated, day after day after day, with certain ways of thinking, believing and behaving. Any of us reared Amish would be as Amish as Marian Fisher.
The problem is, most of us have been stuffed and saturated with another way of life: Starvation Culture. In my opinion, Starvation Culture constantly whispers "there’ll never be enough. You'll never squirrel away enough nuts to be safe. War and violence are fine -- if needed to get what you need. Mother Earth is a betrayer and can be trashed at will." Go HERE for more on Starvation Culture, or HERE (scroll down to March 1 - 8 posts, "The Origin of Patriarchy"). Go HERE for more on Marian Fisher.
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These pics come from the book Out of the Past: Amish Tradition and Faith by Mary Ann McDonald.
2 comments:
I've been very troubled since I heard about that. I don't really know what to think.
amananta, I'm wondering which part of this troubles you. That kids were killed? That the kids were young girls? That they were Amish girls? That the oldest girl sacrificed herself to try to help the others? All of the above?
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