The Median Sib

Kat at Cathouse Chat has a wonderful post on the role of forgiveness after the Amish children were murdered last week. Kat makes several valid points.

As an individual, I am commanded to forgive. The thing is, God doesn’t say “After that person apologizes, then you forgive.” No. He says, “Forgive.” The reason for this is quite simple: to hold on to rage and anger and bitterness harms no one butourselves. . . .

Vengeance is God’s business, not yours.

However, this moves us to the responsibilities of governments. One of the ways that God exercises justice is through the governmental process. The government bears the sword of justice, and it is supposed to wield it upholding the law and protecting the innocent. Romans 13: 1-4:

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. [emph. mine] . . . .

The government is not called to forgive, it is called to uphold and enforce the law.

I’ve seen that the Amish have gone to this man’s family, offering love and support and forgiveness. I think this is a splendidly gracious thing to do, and a beautiful example of the Christian worldview. I think this will help them in healing their shattered lives, and provide peace and comfort in the midst of this terrible tragedy.

But what has this man’s family done that needs forgiving? They are victims of his actions as much as the Amish families are. I am glad that the Amish did it, because this family needs to know that they’re not blamed, and that they will not be ostracized. But in the strictest sense of forgiving a wrong, it is not required, because they did no wrong.

Just to remind you that there are more victims of this atrocity than we usually keep in mind…

I’m a reading specialist. That means that I give the DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) to literally hundreds of elementary school children each year - kindergarten through fifth grade. Last year, I even gave it to my then 4-year old granddaughter. She was taking “Hooked on Phonics” at her preschool, and I was curious to see how HOP skills transferred to reading other texts. Since I had purchased my own DRA kit a couple years ago to use with children I tutored at home, I had everything I needed. I gave Sweet Stuff the Level A and the Level 1 tests. She did well, I gave the results to my daughter and I promptly forgot about it . . . until today.

Today I got an email from the reading specialist at Sweet Stuff’s school. She said that Sweet Stuff’s teacher had come to her with a problem. It seems that when the teacher started to administer the DRA to Sweet Stuff, Sweet Stuff quickly informed her that Grandma Carol had already read “those books” with her. The teacher didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t give the assessment with those texts because the results wouldn’t be valid. I was BUSTED!

The reading specialist explained in her email to me that she understood how kindergarteners are and that she took what Sweet Stuff said with a grain of salt. She obviously doesn’t know Sweet Stuff very well. The girl tells the truth at all times. No grain of salt needed. If she said Grandma Carol read those books with her, then that’s what happened.

Not to worry. I quickly emailed the teacher and reading specialist that yes, I had given Sweet Stuff the DRA, but that it shouldn’t be a problem since the teacher could use the DRA Alternative Text set with Sweet Stuff for the first couple levels (which, as her loyal grandma, I can affirm she is beyond anyway). Then they can go back to the standard kit starting with Level 2. I apologized for not letting them know before that I had already given the DRA to Sweet Stuff, and I thanked them profusely for the wonderful job they’re doing with Sweet Stuff since she adores school and adores her teacher.

Since I administer the DRA so frequently, I’m accustomed to using the Alternative Text Set quite often. However, I imagine a kindergarten teacher would rarely have a need for it. So I can understand the teacher being concerned about what to do.

I forwarded all the emails to my daughter, and we had a big chuckle over Sweet Stuff busting Grandma Carol. I can just hear that little voice telling Mrs. K, “My Grandma Carol has already read THOSE BOOKS with me.”